Patrick Kane returned to the Blackhawks’ lineup against the Oilers on Thursday night in Edmonton after sitting out the loss Wednesday to the Canucks because of an illness.

The Hawks hoped the presence of the NHL’s co-leading goal scorer would give their offense a boost as they tried to end a three-game losing streak, their longest of the season, with Cam Ward in goal.

Entering play Thursday, Kane’s 11 goals were tied with the Bruins’ David Pastrnak for most in the NHL, and his 18 points were tied for fourth overall.

Wednesday started off badly for the Blackhawks with Kane missing his first regular-season game in 3½ seasons and things only got worse as the team blew a pair of leads to begin the three-game trip with a 4-2 loss.

On the bright side, Brandon Saad continued his recent strong play. The winger has had several games in the last couple of weeks when he was the Hawks’ best player. On Wednesday, he was the best player on the ice for either team and with a little bit of luck, easily could have had three or four goals instead of just one.

It appeared Saad scored a shorthanded goal in the second period when he hit the post on a breakaway and the rebound hit his skate and went into the net. However, officials correctly ruled he kicked it in.

“Saader had the puck a lot,” coach Joel Quenneville said. “He obviously scored a nice goal, had a couple of great looks again after that.

“I thought he did a lot of good things. His speed was noticeable and (he had) strength in some tight areas coming out all of a sudden all alone.”

On the negative side, center Nick Schmaltz was only noticeable when something went wrong. He didn’t have any shots on goal and his pass near the blue line in the Canucks zone missed the mark and created a breakaway for Jake Virtanen to score his first goal of the game. As a result of his play, he was a healthy scratch against the Oilers.

Goaltender Corey Crawford (24 saves) didn’t have his best game but made several fantastic stops to keep the Hawks in it until the end. His mediocre .857 save percentage definitely didn’t reflect his overall play.

But whether it was luck or by design, the Canucks seemed to expose Crawford by shooting high on him. All four of their goals were scored on shots over his shoulders that hit the corners of the net.

The loss of Kane amounted to losing two key players because along with being a leading goal scorer, he also often serves as a bottom six forward in crunch time.

Quenneville loves to double-shift Kane in tight games. It’s a way not only to get him more opportunities but he creates mismatches that can work in the Hawks’ favor.

“Every night there are going to be some guys who are not all playing their best or you’re not getting consistency in the lines,” Quenneville said. “You can always put him in spots where he gets extra ice time. Wasn’t available (Wednesday).”

Meanwhile, the Hawks entered Thursday having lost 7 of 13 games.

jgreenfield@chicagotribune.com