Blue Jackets end Oilers five-game win streak

COLUMBUS -- Connor McDavid extended his point and assist streaks to 13 games and scored his 100th point of the season, but the Edmonton Oilers lost 4-2 to the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on Thursday.

McDavid, who got an assist, has 29 points (two goals, 27 assists) during the streak. 

With 23 goals and 77 assists, he became the third player in NHL history to have at least seven 100-point seasons before age 28, joining Wayne Gretzky (10) and Mario Lemieux (eight).

Zach Hyman and Corey Perry scored, and Calvin Pickard made 30 saves for the Oilers (38-21-2), who had won five straight. They trailed 3-0 after the first period.

“I think we weren’t ready to play,” Edmonton coach Chris Knoblauch said. “Our puck management, maybe our decision making and our execution weren’t there.”

Daniil Tarasov made 29 saves for the Blue Jackets (22-31-10), who have won three of four.

“We've made some mistakes in the past, but I think we learned the most when we teach ourselves how to win these games,” Columbus forward Sean Kuraly said. “These are good teams that are getting ready for [the] playoffs, and you’ve got to continue to learn the pattern that it takes to win these games.

“We exhausted the manual on what not to do. The only thing left was to do something different and that's what we did.”

In the past two weeks, the Blue Jackets have home victories against the New York Rangers, Vegas Golden Knights and Oilers, all top-13 teams in the overall standings entering play Thursday.

“We played a solid 60 minutes and we're seeing the team that is getting more confident,” Columbus coach Pascal Vincent said. “There's no perfect systems, but when they start playing for each other, executing the system, all five guys on the ice at a time, it becomes a good system and becomes a good team.”

Mathieu Olivier gave Columbus a 1-0 lead at 6:20 of the first period with a quick wrist shot from the right face-off circle to the short side. 

Alexander Nylander made it 2-0 at 14:54 from the slot, converting a pass from behind the net by Cole Sillinger. Nylander has five goals in seven games since being traded from the Pittsburgh Penguins on Feb. 22.

“We know if we’re going to be successful in the playoffs it’s not going to be playing catch-up hockey,” Oilers forward Warren Foegele said. “That starts with being clean and executing plays and playing responsible.”

Dmitri Voronkov extended the lead to 3-0 27 seconds later at 15:21 with an unassisted goal from between the circles after picking off a Foegele pass.

“I have to chip it out and live another day,” Foegele said. “I take full responsibility for that.”

Hyman cut it to 3-1 at 1:11 of the second period with his 43rd goal of the season, set up by McDavid.  

Perry pulled Edmonton within 3-2 at 12:08 of the third period, scoring a power-play goal by tipping a shot by Evander Kane.

Jack Roslovic scored into an empty net at 19:40 for the 4-2 final.

“This is a big win for us,” Olivier said. “Lately, we've been making some strides and been able to hold on to leads. That's really good for our group here.”

Forwards Adam Henrique and Sam Carrick each made his Oilers debut after being acquired in a trade with the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday.

Henrique had one shot on goal in 14:14 of ice time; Carrick had no shots and played 7:18.

NOTES: McDavid’s assist streak is the longest by an Oilers player since Paul Coffey (17 games) and Gretzky (14) in 1985-86. His seven 100-point seasons are the second-most in Oilers history, behind Gretzky’s nine. With four consecutive 100-point seasons, McDavid has the third-longest streak in franchise history, behind Gretzky (nine, 1979-88) and Jari Kurri (five, 1982-87). … Both of McDavid’s shots on goal were in the third period. … Edmonton acquired defenseman Troy Stecher and a seventh-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft from the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday for a fourth-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft. Stecher was scratched. … Voronkov has 17 goals, tying Rick Nash (2002-03) for the third-most by a Columbus rookie in a season (Kirill Marchenko, 21 in 2022-23; Pierre-Luc Dubois, 20 in 2017-18).