In Edmonton, the Oilers finally snapped their six-skid skid with a 5-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night.
In the first period, Jesse Puljujarvi struck twice and Derek Ryan added a single marker to give the Oilers a 3-0 lead.
“I hope this gives me more confidence and helps me play better every evening,” Puljujarvi said. “Let’s see what happens.”
Edmonton had not gained a standings point in six straight games.
“I liked Jesse’s game,” Oilers assistant coach Glen Gulutzan said. “You guys are going to see the eight shots, and the two goals and assist tonight, but I thought early there were a couple things in his game that we wanted him to be direct and he just straightened himself right out and had a big game. I think he got better and better as the game went on.”
Stuart Skinner made 36 saves in the Oilers win.
Edmonton improved to 17-11-0.
“It is a huge confidence builder, not only for the bottom six [forwards], but for the top six as well,” Ryan said. “I think my line, in particular, has [continued to build] a couple games here. Even though we haven’t gotten wins in the previous games, I felt like we’ve started to come across some confidence.”
Brendan Perlini scored for Edmonton in the middle frame to push their advantage to 4-0.
Columbus dropped to 14-13-1.
“We started fine, had some looks, and then it was a little bit of a brain cramp from ‘Jake,’ you can’t play the puck when your helmet is off,” Blue Jackets head coach Brad Larsen said. “That put them on a 5-on-3. We were killing it fine too. They had no shots on goal and then miss it wide and pop it in, and that puts you behind the eight ball.”
Gustav Nyquist and Justin Danforth scored for Columbus in the third period to cut the Oilers lead to 4-2.
“I thought we played a lot of good minutes but lately, we’ve got to find ourselves here,” Nyquist said. “We’ve had a lot of road games, but we’ve got to find our game here … and string together some wins again.”
Warren Foegele iced the win with a goal into an empty net for the 5-2 final.
Elvis Merzlikins got the start for the Blue Jackets, but was given the hook in the second intermission after making 25 saves and surrendering four goals.
Joonas Korpisalo made 15 saves in the third period mop up.
“I think we played well 5-on-5, in the first period especially, to try and beat them,” the Blue Jackets’ Vladislav Gavrikov said. “But special teams means a lot right now, and it’s always tough when they score and you miss a couple of your chances.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.