EDMONTON - Already short players down the middle, the Edmonton Oilers could not make it through the first period of Wednesday’s game against the Dallas Star without losing another centre.

Anton Lander, struck in the foot early in the first period, was on crutches before the second period got underway, leaving the Oilers with Sam Gagner and Mark Arcobello, who was playing his first NHL game, to manage the middle with any semblance of experience.

Centres Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (shoulder), Shawn Horcoff (broken knuckle) and Eric Belanger (broken toes) were all in the medical room before the puck was even dropped.

Not even the work of goaltender Devan Dubnyk, who turned away 25 shots in his 10th straight game, including a snappy glove save on Reilly Smith, was enough to hold off the determined Stars who scored a 3-2 overtime victory at Rexall Place.

The result stretched the Oilers’ losing skid to four games, but they have managed to pick up a point in three of those four defeats. Six of Edmonton’s 10 games have gone to overtime or a shootout in this lockout-shortened season.

“With that shortened bench, we were really proud of the effort, but it makes the loss that much more disappointing,” said head coach Ralph Krueger, whose club is now 4-3-3.

“When you get a point out of a disappointing game, it’s a consolation prize. We had a pretty chaotic second period, cleaned it up in the third, and had an opportunity to win it.

“We’re in the pack, we’re in the games. We just need to get a healthy lineup.”

Against the Stars — not one of the league’s best faceoff teams — the Oilers won 43 per cent of their draws, outshot the visitors 29-28, and were beaten in the end by veteran Jaromir Jagr, who deked defenceman Ryan Whitney and put the winner in off the post to get the Stars to 5-5-1 in the standings.

The Oilers did get the game’s first goal, which came at 3:21 of the second when Ales Hemsky, who was hard not to notice for most of the night, scored his fourth of the season. It came with helpers from rookie Nail Yakupov (six-game point streak) and Gagner, who has now registered at least a point in every game he’s played this season.

Jamie Benn evened matters up at 13:24 of the second, then five minutes later Derek Roy slapped one in from the point on the power play.

The Oilers’ power play, which has now produced two goals in the last four games, struck in the third when first-year defenceman Justin Schultz fired his third goal of the season past Kari Lehtonen to get the Oilers to overtime.

“It’s unfortunate having so many guys go down in a short period, but I think we showed a lot of character to battle through it,” Gagner said. “We just have to find a way to at least get that to a shootout and get a point there or win it in overtime.

“It’s a tough loss.”

OIL DROPS: Krueger said Lander did try and get back into his skate after his foot had been X-rayed, but there was too much swelling. He’ll be examined again Thursday, but early indications indicate it was a bad bone bruise ... Nugent-Hopkins is expected back for the next game, which is Saturday against the Red Wings in Detroit ... Belanger should be back for Sunday’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Ben Eager, too, is ready to return. “It’s crazy,” Dubnyk said. “It’s just weird accidents, but we still have to find ways to win.”

jireland@edmontonjournal.com

Twitter.com/jirelandEJ