Oilers top Blue Jackets, who lose ground in Eastern wild card

EDMONTON --The Columbus Blue Jackets fell out of the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference with a 4-1 loss to the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place on Thursday.

Columbus (40-30-4) dropped one point behind the Montreal Canadiens, who won 4-0 against the New York Islanders on Thursday.
"We've talked enough," Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said. "We just have to have some sort of urgency to try and get back into this or we have no chance. I just don't think we understand the level that we need to play at right now."
WATCH: [Blue Jackets vs. Oilers highlights]
Leon Draisaitl had three assists to surpass 300 NHL points, and Kyle Brodziak, Zack Kassian, Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored for Edmonton (33-34-7), who moved five points behind the Colorado Avalanche, who are tied in points with the Arizona Coyotes for the second wild card in the Western Conference. Arizona lost 4-2 at the Florida Panthers, and the Avalanche won 3-1 at the Dallas Stars on Thursday.
"It was a tight game, and as a group it's a good team over there," Draisaitl said. "I thought we stuck with it and it wasn't perfect by any means. Sometimes it's just a matter of sticking with it longer than the other team and I thought we did a good job of that tonight."

Mikko Koskinen made 19 saves for the Oilers, who are 2-3-0 in their past five games after going 7-2-1 in their previous 10.
"I thought we stayed patient till we got our energy back and really started to play," Oilers coach Ken Hitchcock said. "We played a patient, smart hockey game and then the big boys took over in the third period, which is kind of how you draw it up."
David Savard scored for the Blue Jackets, who have lost three straight (0-2-1). Joonas Korpisalo made 18 saves.
Savard scored at 11:35 of the second period to give the Blue Jackets a 1-0 lead. He got behind the Oilers defense and tipped in a centering pass from Markus Nutivaara.
Brodziak tied it 1-1 at 13:17, taking a pass from Joseph Gambardella and scoring on a shot from the left face-off circle. It was Gambardella's first point in the NHL in eight games.
"It was kind of like a chess match where neither team was taking any chances," Brodziak said. "But once we got the 2-1 goal in the third they were the team that had to take the chances and we were able to capitalize after that."
Kassian scored 45 seconds into the third period to make it 2-1, converting a pass from McDavid on a 2-on-1 rush against defenseman Seth Jones.
McDavid scored at 14:02 to make it 3-1. He took a pass from Draisaitl and his shot hit the crossbar and bounced in off Korpisalo. The assist was Draisaitl's 300th NHL point.
"Them getting one early in the third was tough," Blue Jackets forward Matt Duchene said. "It's hard for me to put my finger on what is going on right now. We had some good looks but finishing and creating that offense is a problem for us right now. We have to figure out what's going wrong. I wish I had answers."
Nugent-Hopkins scored on the power play at 16:15 for the 4-1 final. It was his NHL career-high 25th goal of the season.
"It was a pretty defensive effort from the start of the game on, there was [seven] shots total in the first period and you don't see that too often," Nugent-Hopkins said. "It was definitely tight-checking and neither team gave up much defensively. We just stuck through it and stuck with it and had a good third period and came out with the win."

They said it

"We just have to play better. They were playing for nothing and we were playing for something and that's not what it looked like. We have to find energy somewhere. Enough with the meetings and enough with the talk, we have to find ways to motivate ourselves individually and be the best player you can be every night for this team." -- Blue Jackets defenseman Seth Jones
"It's a dream come true. Obviously it's not a goal, but any time you can get a point in this league, they're hard to come by. I have a lot of emotions running through me right now, it's an unbelievable feeling, and even better that we got a huge win out of it." -- Oilers forward Joseph Gambardella on his first point in the NHL

Need to know

Blue Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky did not dress because of an undisclosed injury. … The Blue Jackets and Oilers combined for six shots in the first period. The fewest total shots in a period in a game featuring the Oilers is five, which occurred in the second period of 2-2 tie against the Dallas Stars on Jan. 12, 1999. … Draisaitl has 28 points (11 goals, 17 assists) in his past 19 games. McDavid has 107 points this season and is one point from tying his NHL career high set last season.

What's next

Blue Jackets: At the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday (10 p.m. ET; SNP, FS-O, NHL.TV)
Oilers: Host the Ottawa Senators on Saturday (4 p.m. ET; TVAS, SNW, TSN5, NHL.TV)