Blue Jackets win 16th game in row

COLUMBUS-- The Columbus Blue Jackets are one win from tying the NHL record of 17 straight after defeating the Edmonton Oilers 3-1 at Nationwide Arena on Tuesday.
"I'm proud of the team. They deserve it," Columbus coach John Tortorella said. "I'm really happy how they've handled the past three games with all the talk and all that. It's a good test for them."

Late in the third period, with the Blue Jackets protecting a two-goal lead, the crowd chanted, "We want 16!" A few minutes later, they had the second-longest streak in NHL history, behind the 1992-93 Pittsburgh Penguins (March 9-April 10, 1993).
WATCH: All Oilers vs. Blue Jackets highlights
"It's pretty cool if you think about it, but right now we're just concentrating on trying to get two points," Columbus forward Cam Atkinson said.
Atkinson, William Karlsson and Nick Foligno scored, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 21 saves for the Blue Jackets (27-5-4), who have won eight in a row at home.
Columbus next plays Thursday at the Washington Capitals and then hosts the New York Rangers on Saturday.
Oscar Klefbom scored, and Cam Talbot made 32 saves for the Oilers (19-13-7), who had a six-game point streak end.
"We didn't come close to their pace, their tenacity, their relentlessness," Edmonton coach Todd McLellan said. "We weren't anywhere near it."

Columbus scored two power-play goals for a 2-1 lead, and Foligno made it 3-1 with an unassisted goal at 2:45 of the third period when he stepped in front of an errant clear.
Columbus' NHL-leading power play scored on its first try at 12:32 for a 1-0 lead. Atkinson's 18th goal was centering pass from the left that went to the crease and deflected off the skate of Oilers defenseman Andrej Sekera.
"It was a nice bounce that I got. I'll take that," said Atkinson, whose eight power-play goals are tied for second in the NHL (Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins has nine).
The Oilers tied it 1-1 at 5:39 of the second period when Klefbom joined the rush.
Karlsson, subbing on Columbus' second power-play unit while Brandon Dubinsky was serving a penalty, scored on a one-timer from the right faceoff dot off a pass from Brandon Saad at 10:43 of the second for a 2-1 lead. It was his first NHL power-play goal in 138 games played.
"The power play, you can almost sense it when they go out there that they are going to score," Tortorella said. "The bench feels that."

Goal of the game

Karlsson took a back-door pass from Saad and shot from his knee.

Save of the game

Talbot kept it 3-1 five minutes into third period when he slid across the crease to deny a shot from Jack Johnson.

Unsung performance of the game

Columbus forward Alex Wennberg drew a tripping penalty on Connor McDavid at 14:41 of the second period during a shorthanded situation for the Blue Jackets. Not only did it take Edmonton's top player off the ice, it negated the NHL's third-best road power play.

Highlight of the game

Foligno's interception of a cross-ice pass resulted in a wrist shot and a two-goal lead.

They said it

"I just want us to keep our head down and I just want us to play. You know what we are? We're a group of businessmen as far as I'm concerned. That's where I think they have really grasped, is they have accepted the thought of coming to work every day and learning about that day, playing that game and worrying about that game, not worrying about what happened, not worrying about what's ahead of us." -- Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella
"When you play the right way and everything is in sync you tend to go on winning streaks, I guess. You could see everything flowing for them. It's easy to say their getting the bounces but they're working hard for those bounces and making it happen." -- Oilers forward Milan Lucic on the Blue Jackets
"It was a great test for us. For me, that was a playoff-type environment and we had some go-to people who were invisible, so we've got to get them up and running. They've got to understand as we get further in and get to where we want to go eventually, it's going to get a lot harder than that and you've got to show up." -- Oilers coach Todd McLellan

Need to know

Bobrovsky's 14-game winning streak is tied with six other goalies for the second-longest in NHL history. Gilles Gilbert won 17 in a row for the Boston Bruins in 1975-76. … Columbus has 13 power-play goals in the past 11 games, including four in two games against the Oilers. Edmonton was 0-for-3 on the power play. … Atkinson has 10 goals and 17 points in the past 13 games. … Saad has 10 goals and 11 assists in the past 20 games.

What's next

Oilers: At the Boston Bruins on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; SN, TVA Sports, NESN, NHL.TV)
Blue Jackets: At the Washington Capitals on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; CSN-DC, FS-O, NHL.TV)