The Columbus Blue Jackets didn’t have to wait long for another shot at the Edmonton Oilers.
Three days after squandering a two-goal lead late in regulation against the Oilers and then losing in overtime, the Blue Jackets will host Edmonton on Thursday evening.
The Blue Jackets should be in a better frame of mind after beating the Seattle Kraken 2-1 in a shootout on Tuesday to salvage a win from the five-game road trip (1-3-1).
“It was nice to finish off this trip, especially coming off (the Edmonton defeat),” Columbus goalie Jet Greaves said. “It was a tough loss, but it’s still nice to get three out of four points to finish off the trip. It’s a positive step for our group.”
Columbus had a 4-2 advantage over Edmonton when superstar captain Connor McDavid scored with 6:21 remaining to pull the Oilers within one.
The Blue Jackets still seemed in excellent position to win after Edmonton’s Jack Roslovic was called for high-sticking Charlie Coyle with 2:18 remaining, but Jake Walman scored short-handed on a deflected pass to tie it with 58 seconds left, and Roslovic won it 56 seconds into overtime.
“That’s such a skilled hockey team over there,” Blue Jackets center Adam Fantilli said after the setback. “We know they can score goals fast.”
Roslovic scored in overtime again on Wednesday to give the Oilers a 2-1 win against the Philadelphia Flyers in the opener of a season-high seven-game road trip.
Edmonton, the two-time defending Western Conference champion, now will try to win three in a row for the first time this season.
“It’s fun, anything to help the team,” Roslovic said of his overtime heroics. “Just try to play my game every night. We got a win, and I’ve got more to give (Thursday).”
Roslovic also realizes the Oilers, as a whole, still have plenty of room for improvement.
“We’ve got to sharpen up a little better,” he said. “Obviously, we got the two points for us, which is big.”
Edmonton goalie Stuart Skinner played against the Flyers, so Calvin Pickard should be in line to make his sixth start of the season against Columbus.
Skinner last started on Nov. 3 against the St. Louis Blues and took a 3-2 loss. He came on in relief of Skinner on Saturday against the Colorado Avalanche and surrendered five goals on 21 shots in the Oilers’ 9-1 loss.
Pickard is 3-3-1 in his career against the Blue Jackets with an .883 save percentage and a 2.98 goals-against average.
Columbus captain Boone Jenner went to the locker room early in the second period against the Kraken with an upper-body injury and did not return.
Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason did not have an update on Boone after the game.
A flu bug has also been circulating through the team. Forwards Cole Sillinger and Miles Wood missed the Monday game with illnesses, and goaltender Elvis Merzlikins was out sick on Tuesday, though he was available as a backup. Forward Kent Johnson also sat out the Seattle game, possibly due to illness, though the team didn’t confirm it.
“It’s been a long trip out West, going to different time zones pretty much every other game,” Coyle said. “You can’t look too far ahead in wanting to go home, though. Everybody wants to get home, right?”
–Field Level Media
