On the night of Monday, October 28, the Columbus Blue Jackets faced the Edmonton Oilers in Columbus at Nationwide Arena. The game was a whirlwind of penalty kills and powerplays from start to finish. Edmonton star Connor McDavid left the game early after being injured in the first minute of play. The Oilers fought hard but couldn’t get past the Columbus penalty kill until the last minute of the game.
First Period
Just over 30 seconds into the game Oiler’s Connor McDavid was tripped up and left the ice with a lower-body injury. He did not return for the rest of the game. The Blue Jackets were quick to start the scoring when Sean Monahan capitalized on an early powerplay just over two minutes into the game, his fourth of the year. Edmonton got their chance at a powerplay after Columbus was called for too many men on the ice. Adam Fantilli was next up to score for the Blue Jackets at 10:44 with an assist from Cole Sillinger. About four minutes later, Fantilli returned the assist for Sillinger to finish the period’s scoring. Damon Severson was called for a penalty with just over two minutes left to play, but Edmonton’s Zach Hyman evened it out with another penalty. Neither team was able to score with the advantage. The period ended with the Blue Jackets leading 3-0.
Second Period
The second period saw only one goal but also four more penalties. Columbus started with a 44-second powerplay, but they weren’t able to score. The Oilers were penalized early in the period when Fantilli received a stick to the face. Blood was drawn, so it became a four-minute double-minor. Edmonton killed off the penalty, but a minute after that, Mathieu Olivier scored his fourth goal of the year to put Columbus up 4-0. Shortly after, Ivan Provorov was called for high sticking but the Blue Jackets were able to kill off that penalty. Columbus was called for two more penalties the rest of the period, but Edmonton failed to score. The period ended with the Blue Jackets up 4-0. At this point, Edmonton had 22 shots on goal to the Jacket’s 14.
Third Period
Both teams came out strong in the third period but scoring didn’t come easy. The action flowed for most of the period, and there were few stoppages. The action was fairly even, with both teams getting a few blocks and shots on goal. Finally, with just under five minutes to go, forward Mikael Pyythia scored his first goal of the season and first NHL goal with assists from Fantilli and Sillinger. Two minutes went by, and Sean Monahan scored yet another goal to put the Jackets up 6-0. His fifth of the year.
As time wound down, the Oilers were desperate not to go home without at least one goal, and the Blue Jackets looked intent on shutting them out when suddenly the whistle blew. With just 50 seconds left to play, Blue Jacket’s defenseman Jake Christiansen was given a two-minute penalty for cross-checking Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. After a tough battle around the net, the puck found its way out to Mattias Ekholm, who got the Oilers on the board with 27 seconds remaining. The final few seconds wound down, and the Blue Jackets won 6-1.
Blue Jackets Advance to 4-3-1
Unfortunately for Edmonton, their biggest star had to leave at the beginning of the game. Whether McDavid would have scored is unknown, but he certainly could have helped his team. Not only did they lose one of their top points earners, but they also had to adjust to playing on different lines. Despite the rest of the team’s effort, they came up short. The Oilers record now sits at 4-5-1.
Overall, the Blue Jackets played a great game defensively and offensively with few costly mistakes. The biggest star of the night was their penalty kill. Six penalties were called on Columbus, and Edmonton was only able to take advantage of one powerplay. Elvis Merzlikins walks away from Monday’s game with a .969 save percentage. Sillinger scored one goal and had two assists, Fantilli had one goal and one assist, Monahan had two goals, and Kirill Marchenko had two assists. While not scoring any points, Justin Danforth played a great game and had the second-most playing time for a forward after Marchenko. This was, in part, due to the Blue Jackets being on the penalty kill six times.
Even though the PK was great tonight, if Columbus can figure out how to avoid the penalty box, they could have a recipe for success. They avoided anything disastrous, but if the Oilers could have taken advantage of every powerplay, the game would have been tied 6-6.
The Blue Jackets’ next game is Wednesday, October 30, at 7:00 PM EST in Columbus versus the New York Islanders.
Click here to view the photo gallery of the game by ITR’s photographer, Héctor Urcia.
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