Oilers beat Blue Jackets 4-1 for 14th straight victory, close within 3 wins of the NHL record

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Warren Foegele and Evander Kane each had a goal and an assist and the Edmonton Oilers extended their winning streak to 14 games with a 4-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday night.

Connor McDavid and Dylan Holloway also scored for the Oilers (27-15-1), who scored three times in the third period to become the seventh team in NHL history to win 14 in a row. The league record for consecutive wins ins 17 by the Pittsburgh Penguin in 1992-93. The 2016-17 Blue Jackets have the second-longest winning streak in NHL history at 16.

“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.”

Edmonton goalie Stuart Skinner made 27 saves and 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.”

The Oilers are 22-3-0 in their last 25 games and have gone a franchise-record 12 games allowing two or fewer goals.

Dmitri Voronkov scored for the Blue Jackets (14-23-9), who have lost five of their last six games. Elvis Merzlikins finished with 20 saves.

“I thought we had a great start and for the first two periods, we were really carrying the play, I thought,” Columbus forward Adam Fantilli said.

“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 opened the scoring with a power-play goal less than nine minutes into the first period as Kane centered the puck into a crowd and Foegele was able to chip in his 10th of the season past Merzlikins

Columbus had a couple of chances to tie it shortly after but was unable to convert.

Edmonton’s sloppy first period play proved costly with 4:35 to play as Kent Johnson made a return pass to Voronkov, who snapped home his 10th before Skinner could dive across.

It looked as if 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 outshot Edmonton 23-13 through 40 minutes. The Oilers failed to register a shot for more than 10 minutes in the second.

Edmonton went up 2-1 five minutes into the third as Kane grabbed a rebound and slammed in his 15th.

The Oilers took a two-goal lead less than a minute later as McDavid lifted his 17th into the net as Columbus’ Erik Gudbranson plowed Oiler Zach Hyman into his own goalie. McDavid extended his home point-scoring streak to 17 games with the goal.

Edmonton extended its lead with 4:24 to play in the third as Merzlikins made a big save on Connor Brown, but Holloway scored his second of the season into a wide-open net on the rebound.

UP NEXT

Blue Jackets: Visit Calgary on Thursday night.

Oilers: Host Chicago on Thursday night.

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