The Edmonton Oilers, who fell 3-1 to the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday, were mathematically eliminated from post-season contention when the Colorado Avalanche picked a point in their shootout loss to the St. Louis Blues earlier in the night.

"It's really high," captain Connor McDavid told NHL.com of his frustration level. "We want to play in the playoffs as a team. I personally want to play in the playoffs. I'm not happy about it. It's going to be a long summer."

The Oilers have now missed the playoffs for the 12th time in the past 13 years.

"It was never really a question at this point," McDavid continued. "It's not good enough. All year, we let streaks drag on. There were times we couldn't find ways to get wins. You have to find a way to stop the bleeding quick. It's a slim margin of error in this league. There were a lot of teams that were right there. We did our best to stay in the fight, but just a little too late."

McDavid, the league's highest paid player with a salary of $12.5 million, is second in the league scoring race with 115 points this season. Teammate Leon Draisaitl sits fourth with 102, but their individual success was not enough to lift the team into a playoff spot.

The Oilers opened the season with a 9-10-1 record under head coach Todd McLellan, who was then replaced by Ken Hitchcock. Edmonton has posted a 25-26-8 record under Hitchcock, whose future with the team remains unclear.

"It's been an insane season," McDavid said. "Coaching change, GM change. Good times and bad times. It's been a roller coaster. It's been emotionally challenging. It's been hard mentally to kind of keep on going, but we were always kind of right there. It's the way it goes." 

The Oilers, who stood pat at the trade deadline, have posted an 8-7-3 record since Feb. 25 and remain nine points back of the final wild-card spot with three games left in their season.

"It is what it is - we're out. It doesn't matter how many points you miss by, there's eight that are in, and eight that are out," Hitchcock said. "At this time of year you want your team to compete at a high level and for the most part we did."

Edmonton currently has the eighth-best odds in next Tuesday’s draft lottery, with a six per cent chance of picking first overall.