EDMONTON — Too fast, too organized, too good.

Whatever it is that mysteriously stops this Carolina Hurricanes system from winning enough playoff games clearly does not apply to one-off regular-season meetings, as the hottest team in the NHL cut through the Edmonton Oilers like a hot knife through butter Friday in a 6-3 win.

The Oilers were totally outclassed on home ice, as Anaheim pulled five points clear of Edmonton atop the Pacific.

Two wins in eight games will do that to a team.

“We need to put together wins,” said an exasperated head coach Kris Knoblauch, who is dangerously close to becoming that coach who just can’t figure it out. “We’ve only got 20 games left, and we’re on the brink of not making playoffs.

“We can’t just wait to find our game in the playoffs, because we need to ultimately get there. So we need to find another gear.”

Carolina outshot Edmonton 32-16 and outscored them two to one as well. It figures, as the Canes were at worst twice as good as Edmonton.

Edmonton has now allowed at least four goals in 10 of its past 12 games — 56 goals total in the past dozen outings. They are 5-7 in that span, which is surprisingly good, but the fact remains that Edmonton’s defensive game is simply nowhere close to a level that could make the playoffs, let alone win series.

“Nobody wants to get scored against. We’re not trying to go out there and trying to let in five every night,” pleaded two-goal man Zach Hyman after the game. “There’s an effort there to be better. We’ve talked about it, and it’s just a matter of going out there and doing it — doing your job and trusting that the other guy is going to do their job.

“I can’t give you a magic answer, otherwise we wouldn’t be 10 games allowing five goals a game or whatever it is. It’s everything. It’s lapses, I can’t give you the answer because if I could, we’d be doing it.”

Edmonton broke in three new players in this game, all trade deadline week acquisitions: defenceman Connor Murphy (minus-2), centre Jason Dickinson (plus-1) and winger Colton Dach (minus-3). None of the three had a point or a shot on goal, though Knoblauch thought the Dickinson line with Vasily Podkolzin and Kasperi Kapanen was his best unit.

The energy those new players provided was likely squared off by the learning curve and unfamiliarity of a trio of players wearing an Oilers jersey for the first time.

On the Hurricanes’ side, their only acquisition — tough winger Nick Deslauriers — wasn’t even in town. So, Carolina had the same lineup playing that tightly organized Hurricanes system, though the locker room could not have been pleased with general manager Eric Tulsky’s inactivity at the deadline.

“I know there’s a lot of disappointment, I’m going to be honest,” head coach Rod Brind’Amour said before the game. “(The players) were hoping to see us make a splash. It’s tough. We’re one of the best teams in the league right now. Teams are making deals to try to catch us, and to try to catch the teams that are ahead of them, and that is us. 

“On one side, it would be nice to throw your chips in and see if you could improve your team,” he said. “But we love the group we have.  If you’re (making moves), it means you’re going to be disrupting that chemistry that I think we’ve done pretty well here. It’s behind us, and we’ve got to move on.”

The Hurricanes are indeed one of the NHL’s best regular-season teams, tops in the league with a 15-2-3 record in their previous 20 games. They are organized with excellent system play, and support each other better than any team we’ve watched this season.

For whatever reason, it’s a game plan that doesn’t produce enough wins in the post-season. But in a one-off regular-season game, these Canes run a system that keeps them at or near the top of the tables most seasons.

Looming for Edmonton now is a killer road trip through Vegas, Colorado, Dallas and St. Louis (on a back-to-back) from which they could come home well out of touch with the top of the Pacific.

“You look at our division, and it’s right there for us,” Hyman said. “The optimism is that we’re a team that has been to the Cup Final back-to-back. We’re a really good team (with) the pieces that we’ve added. It’s just a matter of putting it together and doing it.

“We’ve got to try and not ride the roller coaster and believe in the processes and believe in the group we have.”