The sweep of the NHL from Friday night starts in Columbus where the Blue Jackets doubled-up the Edmonton Oilers, 6-3.
The game was highlighted by the Jackets’ quick response offense to each of the Oilers three goals.
Columbus scored within 43 seconds of each of the Edmonton goals to snuff out any real traction the Oilers could get.
David Savard had two goals in Jackets win over Oilers – file photo by Brent Clark
“The goals against were all at a really bad time,” Edmonton center Leon Draisaitl said. “That’s unacceptable.”
David Savard had two goals for the Jackets and Scott Hartnell, Boone Jenner, Cam Atkinson, and Fedor Tyutin all scored for Columbus.
“Credit to the forwards,” Savard said. “They are working really hard down low and getting the pucks to us. They’re going to the net, too, setting screens. It’s hard for the goalie to see the puck.”
Joonas Korpisalo made 33 saves for the win.
Connor McDavid, Draisaitl and Taylor Hall scored for the Oilers.
The Oilers were not nearly as well-rested as the Jackets who had three days off. The Oilers were coming off a tough game in Philadelphia on Thursday.
“The body wanted to go,” Edmonton coach Todd McLellan said. “The mind wasn’t putting it in situations where we even had a chance for success. It happened right off the bat the first two goals.
“We didn’t give ourselves much of an opportunity to win as a tired team. A tired team can still win in this League if you play smart. We didn’t.”
The Oilers did rally from an early 2-0 deficit but could not get over the hump.
“We’ve got to start better,” Oilers defenseman Brandon Davidson said. “That’s the bottom line. We’ve got a fresh goalie in net. We’ve got to step up our game, do the little things. We didn’t do that early on.
“He needs help from us. He’s the newest member. He needs confidence in us and we need to provide that to him. We didn’t.”
Laurent Brossoit took the loss in his third NHL start.
In Dallas, the New Jersey Devils and Stars were looking to keep pace in their respective division and conference races with a win but it was the Stars who pulled out a 4-2 win and in the process ended a four-game schneid.
“Obviously really important,” Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. “It was solid from start to finish, really. We defended really well. We played strong in our own end, and I thought we got real good effort from all four lines.”
The Devils got goals from Adam Henrique and Devante Smith-Pelly.
“I thought we had a lot of real good zone time which took a little pressure off of our D,” Ruff said. “When it comes to playing in your own end, I thought there was a lot of shifts where our forwards did some good work and allowed [the defense] to get off the ice early and we didn’t get trapped in our own end very often. That part was important.”
Jason Spezza had a goal in Stars win over Devils – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
More importantly for New Jersey, Cory Schneider left the game early in the third with a lower-body injury after lunging to make a save.
“We’ll see what happens when we get back to Jersey. We don’t have any updates right now,” Devils coach John Hynes said of Schneider. “[I know] just that he’s hurt. He made a great save and then had trouble getting up.”
Jason Spezza, Vernon Fiddler, Valeri Nichushkin, and Colton Sceviour all scored for the Stars.
For Fiddler, it was 100th NHL career goal.
“Obviously, it’s nice,” Fiddler said. “Milestones just mean you’re getting old, but I’m feeling good. I felt better the last week and a half. It’s nice to contribute.”
Keith Kinkaid replaced Schneider in the Devils’ pipes.
“Keith came in and played great right when he went in there,” Henrique said. “They had a couple opportunities he made big saves on.”
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