Columbus Blue Jackets' Sean Kuraly gets stopped by Edmonton Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner during the first period in Edmonton. The Oilers won 4-1 on Jan. 23, 2024.Amber Bracken/The Canadian Press
Stuart Skinner was able to keep his team alive long enough for the Edmonton Oilers to wake up and extend their spectacular streak to 14 wins in a row.
Skinner made 27 saves and Warren Foegele and Evander Kane each had a goal and assist as the Oilers kept their win streak going with a 4-1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday.
The Oilers’ second-year goalie won his 11th straight game, passing Grant Fuhr for the longest single-season winning streak in Oilers history.
“It means a lot,” said Skinner, who is 18-2 in his last 20 games. “I was feeling a lot of emotions, especially when I went out on the ice for the first star. It is pretty cool to be able to break a record from one of the best goalies to ever live.
“He is obviously a guy I look up to and have talked to. He is just one of the best. I am very fortunate to be able to break it.”
Foegele credited Skinner for being on his toes while the rest of the team looked to find its footing.
“That honestly could have been a 5-0 deficit after two periods. He was rock solid. He has been playing unbelievable,” Foegele said. “He has been unreal for the last few months.”
Connor McDavid and Dylan Holloway also scored for the Oilers (27-15-1) who became just the seventh team in NHL history to reach the lofty 14-win streak mark.
The record is 17 wins in a row by the Pittsburgh Penguin in 1992-93. The Oilers are now 22-3-0 in their last 25 games and have gone a franchise-record 12 consecutive games allowing two or fewer goals.
Dmitri Voronkov responded for the Blue Jackets (14-23-9), who have lost five of their last six.
“I thought we had a great start and for the first two periods, we were really carrying the play, I thought,” said Columbus forward Adam Fantilli.
“We’re a team that can really disrupt the flow of a game with our speed and I thought that was kind of our plan to come out and play fast and be disruptive. I thought it was kind of going our way and we got away from it at the end there.”
Edmonton started the scoring on the power play eight-and-a-half minutes into the opening period as Kane centred the puck into a crowd and Foegele was able to chip his 10th of the season past Blue Jackets goalie Elvis Merzlikins
Columbus had a couple of chances to tie it shortly after as a puck sat loose under Skinner after a deflection off defender Cody Ceci but was whistled dead, and then Johnny Gaudreau had a breakaway which Skinner was able to stop with a quick glove hand.
Edmonton’s sloppy first period play caught up with the team with 4:35 to play as Kent Johnson made a return pass to Voronkov and he snapped home his 10th before Skinner could dive back across.
It looked like the Oilers had regained the lead midway through the second period on another power-play goal by McDavid, but the goal was overturned on a video review for being offside.
Columbus continued to be the better team in the middle period, outshooting Edmonton 23-13 through 40 minutes. Edmonton didn’t register a shot for more than 10 minutes in the second.
Edmonton woke up and went up 2-1 five minutes into the third period as a big rebound came to Kane and he slammed home his 15th.
The Oilers then took a two-goal lead less than a minute later as McDavid lifted his 17th into the net as Columbus’s Erik Gudbranson plowed Oiler Zach Hyman into his own goalie. McDavid’s home point scoring streak was extended to 17 games with the goal.
Edmonton extended their lead with 4:24 to play in the final frame as Merzlikins made a big save on Connor Brown, but Holloway was there to deposit his second of the season into a wide-open cage on the rebound.
“I think we just all knew if we played our brand of hockey in the third, because we didn’t in the first two periods obviously, we liked our chances,” Kane said. “I thought we came out and did that for the most part.”
Notes
It was the first of two meeting this season between the two teams. Columbus won both encounters last season ... The Blue Jackets remained without the services of Zach Werenski (ankle) and Patrik Laine (clavicle), although both travelled with the team and are practising. Nick Blankenburg (upper body) was activated and sent to Cleveland on Sunday ... The Oilers are healthy and anticipating the insertion of a new body in the lineup as early as Saturday after signing veteran forward Corey Perry on Monday to a deal for the remainder of the season. In order to make room for Perry, the Oilers put forward Adam Erne on waivers, which he cleared and will now be assigned to the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors ... The 2016-17 Columbus Blue Jackets have the second-longest winning streak in NHL history at 16. Oilers forward Sam Gagner was a part of that team.
Up next
Blue Jackets: Play the second game of a five-game road trip against the Flames in Calgary on Thursday.
Oilers: Host the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday.