EDMONTON

It was in the sixth minute of the second period when it happened.

Lee Stempniak scored to give the Winnipeg Jets a 2-0 lead over the Edmonton Oilers.

“Bwwwwwaaaah!”

The Rexall Place goal horn guy hit the button!

Oops. The job description for the goal horn guy is to sound the blast only when the Oilers score.

Couldn’t blame the guy, though. It’s going to be fun to follow the Winnipeg Jets in the playoffs.

If you can’t cheer for the Oilers due to the fact they have been eliminated from the playoffs for a ninth straight season since, oh, Halloween, why not cheer for Winnipeg?

The Jets, the common denominator in all five Edmonton Stanley Cups with the Oilers having managed to beat Winnipeg every one of those years in the playoffs, haven’t been in the playoffs since 1996.

And with the win last night, they’re definitely in the hunt for their first since the NHL returned to Winnipeg in 2011.

If you went to Rexall Place last night interested in watching the playoff-run Jets and see to what extent the Oilers might accept the assignment as a challenge, with the idea that if Edmonton didn’t answer it that would telegraph how they’d answer the nightly challenges the rest of the way, you got your answer.

The scoreboard said it all.

Winnipeg 4, Edmonton 1.

It was ‘Refuse-To-Lose’ versus ‘Built-To-Lose’, basically a team fighting for their lives in a playoff race against a team constructed to tank one last time with no clue how to be a team in a playoff race.

“They play an aggressive, intense game no matter what the situation is,” said Ryan Nugent-Hopkins who kept his goal-scoring streak alive with his fourth in the last three games, all at home, and 23rd of the season.

“There is even more pressure on them to play that way when they are fighting for a playoff spot. We knew that coming in.”

It was the Jets, on a four-game down-the-stretch winning streak, visiting the Oilers, with their 5-25-10 record against the West.

It was the Jets, with a 21-14-7 record against the West, making it five in a row, winning their eighth game in the last 12 games scrambling to give the loudest crowd in the league something to really shout about back home.

And it was the Oilers, beginning the final 10 games of their season exclusively against Western Conference opposition with eight wins in their last 24 and telling themselves they’ve been playing pretty well lately.

When it was over Winnipeg remained the second Wild Card team with 88 points. Minnesota also won last night to go 24-6-2, with ex-Oiler Devan Dubnyk playing every game in goal going down the stretch to sit one point ahead of the Jets, at 89, to occupy the first Wild Card spot.

Remember when Edmonton was consistently playing for the last playoff position and usually embarking on first round playoff adventure against the Dallas Stars?

Anybody still in school, including college, probably doesn’t remember any of those runs. If you were in Grade 1 when it began you could be receiving your college degree when the Oilers match Florida’s record with a 10th consecutive season out of the playoffs next year.

Oh, the fun that was for a fan.

Every night was a scoreboard-watching adventure.

The highs. The lows. The ecstasy. The angst.

Can you imagine being in Ottawa right now?

The Hamburglar won another one last night. That made Andrew Hammond 14-0-1 as a starter and the seventh-straight win down the stretch moved the Senators into the final playoff position.

And then there was Calgary.

What a ride the Flames have taken their fans on this year.

Calgary, 6-2-2 in their last 10 but coming off an overtime loss, went into their game last night with 84 points, two ahead of the defending Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings. But the Kings won in New Jersey last night to move into a tie with the Flames. But then Calgary came through with yet another win, 3-2 over Colorado, to move back ahead at 84 points.

The way the Flames have battled, especially in coming back to win games in the third period, even an Edmonton fan can’t help but concede they deserve to be in the Stanley Cup show.

With no idea when the Oilers fans could sound the sirens and ring out the bells, why not sound the horn for the other Canadian teams as they battle their way into to the Stanley Cup playoffs?

Follow me on Twitter.com/sunterryjones

terry.jones@sunmedia.ca