Joonas Korpisalo made 42 saves as the Columbus Blue Jackets held off a furious Edmonton Oilers comeback attempt for a 6-5 win Saturday afternoon.
The Oilers lost in regulation time for just the second time in their last 18 games (11-2-5).
“I think we beat ourselves today, in a lot of ways,” said head coach Jay Woodcroft.
For the second straight game, the Oilers were scored on in in the second minute. Kirill Marchenko knocked a pass past Jack Campbell for his fifteenth of the season.
The Blue Jackets poured it on with three goals in the first six minutes of the second. Boone Jenner wristed in a shot on the power play; Marchenko added his second of the game, then Patrik Laine tallied from a sharp angle.
That was the end of the afternoon for Campbell, having allowed four goals on 14 shots. Warren Foegele got one back for the Oilers, then Leon Draisaitl struck on a two-man advantage to cut the Blue Jackets lead to 4-2 with 10:18 left in the second.
Connor McDavid then went to work. While shorthanded, he grabbed the puck at his own blue line, bulled his way around Johnny Gaudreau, and slid the puck under Korpisalo. Less than two minutes later, he blistered a slap shot past Korpisalo’s glove.
All told, it was four goals in 8:02 for the Oilers to send it to third tied 4-4.
The Oilers fired 15 shots on Korpisalo in the first nine minutes of the third, but the Jackets would retake the lead with 10:59 to go on a goal by Jack Roslovic. He’d add another one on a two-on-one to make it 6-4 with 5:04 left.
With Skinner pulled for an extra attacker, Zach Hyman scored with still 2:56 to go.
The Oilers kept the pressure on but couldn’t find the tying goal. They outshot the Blue Jackets 23-6 in the third.
“We did a good job getting ourselves back in, but it is an embarrassing start and then it’s an embarrassing finish,” said McDavid.
McDavid had two goals and two assists and is up to 113 points on the season.
The Oilers, 32-20-8, will host the Boston Bruins on Monday (630 CHED, Face-off Show at 5 p.m., game at 6:30 p.m.).