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The Edmonton Oilers had to overcome considerable adversity Wednesday night when they hosted the Blues.

They were missing Leon Draisaitl, the NHL’s second-leading scored with 106 points. Also sidelined were excellent two-way forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and defensemen Mattias Ekholm and Jake Walman.

Because of injuries, illness and salary-cap issues, the Oilers only dressed five defensemen. But superstar Connor McDavid played for the first time since March 20 after recovering from a lower-body injury.

“Kind of a crazy day for our group, not knowing who’s going in and what not, so I was just happy to get in there,� McDavid said.

And that was the difference as the Oilers edged the Blues 4-3, handing them their second straight loss and slowing their charge toward the Western Conference playoff bracket.

“I thought our effort was good,� Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “I thought we battled hard. Obviously we didn’t do a good enough job of checking McDavid, and we didn’t do a good enough job of defending our net front. I didn’t think we did a good enough job of getting to their net-front.�

The Blues had a chance to clinch a Western Conference postseason berth with a regulation win over the Oilers and a regulation loss by the Calgary Flames at Anaheim.

But Wednesday night didn’t play out that way. The Blues lost on Connor Brown’s goal with 20.4 seconds left, set up by McDavid, and the Flames earned a point with their 4-3 overtime loss to the Ducks in Anaheim.

The Minnesota Wild escaped with an 8-7 overtime victory over the San Jose Sharks to edge past the Blues for the first wild-card slot. The Wild have 93 points with three games left, and they got stars Kirill Kaprisov and Joel Eriksson Ek back from injuries.

The Blues have 93 points with two games left, and the Flames remain alive with 88 points with four games remaining.

“We really need these points right now,� Blues winger Jordan Kyrou said. “It’s a tight race. It’s a tough loss.�

Montgomery leaned hard on Robert Thomas, showcasing his ability on the same stage as McDavid. Thomas logged 22:18 of ice time and earned two assists.

Pavel Buchnevich (goal, two assists) and Kyrou (goal, assist) also had strong games as Montgomery loaded up his top line during this back-and-forth battle.

“I thought that Thomas line was really dynamic for us,� Montgomery said. “Buchy was really good, I thought the line was really good.�

Defenseman Ryan Suter scored a shorthanded goal while celebrating his nomination for the Masterton Trophy. The ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association selected him for his perseverance and dedication through 1,524 NHL games and counting.

Jordan Binnington made some outstanding saves and also scored a takedown of Oilers agitator Corey Perry after Perry skated into Binnington’s head area during a goalmouth scramble.

Ultimately, though, McDavid was just too much for the Blues. He assisted on three of Edmonton’s four goals.

“He’s the best, if not one of the best in the league, and he showed us why tonight,� Thomas said.

“He’s the best player in the world,� Kyrou said.

On Edmonton’s first goal, Blues defenseman Justin Faulk turned the puck over in the corner to hand the Oilers an opportunity. After Jeff Skinner rang a shot off the left post, Faulk tried to atone for his mishap by pushing the puck up the middle and out of danger.

But McDavid swiped the puck to Brown for a point-blank goal.

On the second Oilers goal, Buchnevich tried to rotate the puck back to defenseman Tyler Tucker along the back wall. McDavid used his speed to intercept the puck and send it back to Darnell Nurse at the blue line.

Nurse fired from straight away and Vasily Podkolzin banked in the rebound.

Edmonton’s third goal was also a rebound conversion, with Viktor Arvidsson screening Ninnington on Brett Kulak’s shot before punching in the loose puck.

“I though the net front battle was the difference in the game,� Montgomery said.

On the decisive goal, McDavid came out of the penalty box, rushed the puck up left wing and made a backhand pass for Brown for the winning backhand shot.

So the Blues will catch their breath before trying once again to clinch a playoff berth, this time Saturday night in Seattle against the Kraken.

“Really important, we have two games to lock down where we want to be and we have to get back to playing the right way and being dominant for 60 minutes,� Thomas said.