Nobody likes having their toughness and their heart questioned.

So, after failing to show much of either Thursday against a Florida Panthers team that’s been rubbing Edmonton’s nose in the last two Stanley Cup Finals every chance they get, the Oilers desperately needed a response.

That it had to come against the powerful Tampa Bay Lightning was an unfortunate bit of scheduling for a team on the ropes, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.

And the Oilers, to their credit, brought the passion and intensity that was sorely missing in that passive, lifeless loss to Florida, but they simply aren’t good enough to pull the kind of upset they needed Saturday night at Rogers Place.

“I thought it was a good response to the other night,” said Oilers captain Connor McDavid, after Edmonton came out on the wrong end of a 5-2 decision. “It was a quiet night the other night so it was a good response emotionally.”

But the difference between a true Stanley Cup contender and whatever the Oilers are right now was on full display. As hard as Edmonton pressed, as hard as they tried, Tampa Bay had the calm, measured answer. When they needed a stop the Lightning got it. When they needed a goal, they got that too.

When they needed to manage a one-goal lead to the finish line, they stretched it to 5-2. Even McDavid had to tip his hat in respect to a better team.

“They’re extremely well coached, they’re extremely well organized,” he said. “They’re very rehearsed in everything they do. It’s very impressive. And when you do break them down they have a heck of a goalie to backstop them.

“They all know what they’re doing all over the ice. It’s impressive. They’re a great team.”

The Oilers are simply not on that level yet. And, given that it’s 71 games into the season, it’s safe to assume they aren’t going to get there this year.

The trend is easy to spot. Put them up against a contender and it’s a bad night — Carolina beat them 6-3, Dallas beat them 7-2, Minnesota beat them 7-3 and now Tampa beat them 5-2. And Florida beat them 4-0 for fun.

That the Oilers fought hard and made it close is nice, but at this point in the season that’s not good enough.

While Dallas, Minnesota, Carolina, Colorado, Tampa Bay and Buffalo are revving up their post-season war machines, the Oilers are still looking under the hood, holding an oily rag in one hand and scratching their head in confusion with the other.

“We’ve been playing together a long time and we feel like we’re somewhat rehearsed and organized,” said McDavid. “Not today, though.”

The two points would have been nice, but on a night when all five Pacific Division teams in action lost, there was no movement in the turtle derby. If Edmonton was in any other division they’ve have been sellers at the deadline looking forward to a draft lottery and a fresh start next season.

But playing in the Pacific means the 18th overall Oilers don’t have to worry about missing the playoffs and might even have a paved road to the conference final.

“We’re fortunate to play in this division,” said McDavid. “A lot of teams are fortunate to play in this division. It’s a bit of a pillow fight right now but we’re tankful not to have lost any ground. That being said we have find a way to win some games here on the road. We have to make some ground.”

Bad night at the top

The showdown between league-leading superstars Nikita Kucherov and Connor McDavid was no contest. Florida’s guy had two goals and two assists to take over the NHL scoring lead while McDavid, had one goal and more turnovers than we’ve seen from him in any game this year on a minus three night. Ryan-Nugent Hopkins, Zach Hyman and Evan Bouchard were also dash three.

“Yeah those 4 guys weren’t at their best tonight,” said head coach Kris Knoblauch. “And so often they are our best players. Tonight, yeah, they would want more out of themselves and it happens. They get the toughest matches. They played against some really good players tonight. Tonight we just couldn’t get much from them.”

RelatedFighting spirit

There was all kinds of heat in this one, starting when Evan Bouchard got smashed face first into the boards by Pontus Holmberg. That Bouchard had turned his back at the last second was of no concern to the Oilers. After Connor McDavid and Holmberg took coincidental roughing minors on the play, Connor Murphy and Holmberg took fighting majors a few minutes later.

From there, the temperature got turned up even higher when Darnell Nurse threw a head shot on Brandon Bagel, triggering a scrap between Anthony Cirelli and Vasily Podkolzin.

So full marks to the Oilers for showing some gamesmanship and grit.

But it wasn’t enough.

“Guys are physical and competitive here,” said Murphy. “Since I’ve been here Pods has probably been in four fights, he’s so strong and competitive. Guys don’t back down from anything. Tampa’s a physical chippier team but I don’t think that was intimidating. Guys matched that right away.”

Power down

The turning point came with the Oilers trailing 2-1 and going on a two-man advantage for 1:13. Where your team is minus 19 on five-on-five goal differential on the season, your power play needs to deliver in moments like this.

It didn’t. Tampa killed the five-on-three and scored shorthanded on the five-on-four, on a breakaway made possible by McDavid’s umpteenth turnover of the game. The heartbreaking goal made it 3-1.

E-mail: rtychkowski@postmedia.com