Columbus Blue Jackets right wing Justin Danforth skates in on Edmonton Oilers goaltender Calvin Pickard during the second period. The Blue Jackets won 4-2 on March 7, 2024, in Columbus, Ohio.Sue Ogrocki/The Associated Press
Matthew Olivier, Alex Nylander and Dmitri Vornkov scored in the first period and the Columbus Blue Jackets snapped the Edmonton Oilers’ five-game winning streak with a 4-2 victory Thursday night.
Jack Roslovic added an empty-netter with 20 seconds remaining and Daniil Tarasov stopped 29 shots for Columbus, which has won three of its last four but remains last in the Metropolitan Division.
“We played a solid 60 minutes, and we’re seeing a team that is getting more confident,” Blue Jackets coach Pascale Vincent said. “There’s no perfect system, but when they start playing for each other, executing the system, all five guys on the ice at a time, it becomes a good system and becomes a good team.”
Connor McDavid got his 100th point of the season, Zach Hyman and Corey Perry scored and Calvin Pickard stopped 30 for the Oilers, who are second in the Pacific Division behind the Vancouver Canucks.
“We weren’t ready to play,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “Our puck management, maybe our decision making and our execution.”
Columbus jumped on Edmonton early, late and often in the first period.
Olivier got the scoring started at 6:20 off a feed from Sean Kuraly.
“We’ve made some mistakes in the past, but we learn the most when we teach ourselves how to win these games,” Kuraly said. “These are good teams that are getting ready for playoffs, and you’ve got to continue to learn the pattern that it takes to win these games.”
Nylander made it 2-0 with 5:06 left in the period, scoring his fourth goal in three games since joining the Blue Jackets from Pittsburgh.
Vornkov capped the period with an unassisted score 27 seconds later for his 17 goal of the season, tying him for the NHL rookie lead.
Hyman needed just 1:11 of the second period to cut the lead to 3-1.
An assist by McDavid made him the sixth player in NHL history with at least seven seasons of 100 points and extended his streak to 13 games.
Perry got Edmonton within one, scoring a power-play goal at 12:08 of the third with 19 seconds left in the Oilers’ man advantage.
Up next
Oilers: Visit Buffalo Saturday.
Blue Jackets: Host Nashville Saturday.