In August 1988, the Edmonton Oilers served as the unwitting midwife of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.

They traded Wayne Gretzky to Los Angeles. People who didn’t know icing from a cake began wearing silver and black and sitting by the glass at The Forum.

Kids began skating, their parents became fans, Anaheim built an arena and Michael Eisner made a movie. It added up to the Mighty Ducks, who dropped the puck in 1993.

Had the Oilers shipped Gretzky to Toronto, who knows?

Certainly they had no way of knowing their indirect offspring would grow up so cantankerous.

Edmonton and Anaheim have had an oil-and-feathers relationship ever since. They and the Ducks eventually will value the fact that they’re walking through this Western Conference semifinal together. If this goes 7, their hands will be forever joined, if not by handshakes.

Right now, let’s make sure they use different entrances.

You have only heard the first of the complaints about the Pond-emonium in Game 5 Friday night, the Ducks’ unprecedented playoff comeback win, 4-3 in double OT.

“If someone knows what goaltender interference is anymore, call me and tell me,” said the Oilers’ Milan Lucic after Rickard Rakell’s backhander bounced off Ryan Kesler’s stick and tied it 3-3 with 15 seconds left.

Kesler was face down in the crease. He was sent there by Edmonton’s Darnell Nurse. He also was at least touching, if not grabbing, the pad of goaltender Cam Talbot, who said he was basically immobilized as the shot came through.

The good-goal call was not overturned, because the NHL said Nurse was responsible for Kesler’s prone position. Which, the Oilers said, shouldn’t have entitled Kesler to affirmatively grab Talbot’s pad.

It also shouldn’t absolve Edmonton from kicking away leads of 2-0 and 3-0 the past two games, or failing to clear the very few pucks it would have taken to nail down Game 5.

Now a new development and an old story take over.

The Oilers’ defense was stripped when Getzlaf banged into Andrej Sekera and limited him to 1:54 of ice time. Sekera averaged 21:29 this year. Adam Larsson played 44:58 on Edmonton’s backline. How this relates to Game 6 is anyone’s guess.

But the Ducks now wear the hairshirt of their history. In four years they have had five chances to win a clinching Game 6 on the road. They’ve done it once, in Dallas three years ago, and lost Games 6-7 the other four times. Of course, those Ducks didn’t have the bounceability these Ducks apparently do.

But the Oil Wars go beyond that.

In 2006 the Ducks found themselves with home ice in the Western Finals, even as a 7 seed. But they lost to 8th-seeded Edmonton in five bitter games, thanks to goalie Dwayne Roloson and future Hall of Fame defenseman Chris Pronger.

Pronger almost immediately demanded a trade. As scurrilous rumors mounted, the Oilers dealt him to Anaheim for Joffrey Lupul, Ladislav Smid and draft choices. In effect they dealt Anaheim the 2007 Stanley Cup as well.

The next shot came from Edmonton general manager Kevin Lowe, who offered Ducks rookie Dustin Penner a five-year, $21.25 million poison-pill contract. Anaheim, bumping up against the salary cap, couldn’t match it.

“It was gutless,” said Ducks general manager Brian Burke, “and the act of a general manager desperate to keep his job.”

Burke even challenged Lowe to fisticuffs at a barn in Lake Placid, N.Y., an offer that Lowe declined. But it didn’t stop the cap from becoming the Ducks’ major opponent for about four years.

In 2008 they drafted Wisconsin defenseman Justin Schultz and thought he would be a franchise player. He may be, but for a different franchise. In 2012 he became an unrestricted free agent and signed with, yeah, Edmonton.

He was ill-equipped to thrive there, but now he is Pittsburgh’s lead defenseman and a possible Norris Trophy winner someday.

GM Bob Murray was outraged and said he felt “betrayed” because Schultz never gave him a chance to trade him. To this day Schultz has not told the Ducks why.

Anyway, more boos at Oilers-Ducks games.

There were other ebbs and flows. The Ducks have had an 11-game winning streak and a 13-game losing streak at Edmonton. They stole Andrew Cogliano from Edmonton. The Oilers stole Patrick Maroon from them, although the Ducks still pay part of his tab.

Hockey in general is mercifully free of bro-hugs. Playoff series need that growl. But as the Oilers and Ducks take this into the ranks of the unforgettable, there’s something sharper here. It’s almost like family. Without ties.