McDavid, Draisaitl power Oilers past Blue Jackets

COLUMBUS-- Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl each had three points, and Mikko Koskinen made 30 saves to help the Edmonton Oilers defeat the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-0 at Nationwide Arena on Saturday.

McDavid had three assists, and Draisaitl had a goal and two assists for the Oilers (28-30-7), who have won two straight and are five points behind the Minnesota Wild for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
WATCH: [All Oilers vs. Blue Jackets highlights]
"The good thing is we're still fighting," Koskinen said. "We still think we have a chance, and everything is possible."
Koskinen got his fourth shutout of the season and first since Dec. 9.
"I'm so happy how the team played in front of me," he said. "I didn't have to do much. The 'D' was awesome. We played a team effort tonight."

Sergei Bobrovsky allowed four goals on 19 shots for the Blue Jackets (36-25-3), who fell two points behind the Montreal Canadiens for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference and are 3-4-0 in their past seven games. Joonas Korpisalo, who relieved Bobrovsky to start the third period, made five saves.
"We're moving right by it," Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said. "I'm not going to pick it apart, talk about what's good, bad. We're moving right by it. We're playing tomorrow."
Zack Kassian gave Edmonton a 1-0 lead at 6:27 of the first period with his 10th goal of the season. He took a cross-ice pass from Draisaitl, who extended his point streak to 10 games (eight goals, seven assists), and scored blocker-side.

Josh Currie
made it 2-0 at 5:07 of the second for his second goal in his seventh NHL game.
Blue Jackets forwards Artemi Panarin, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Cam Atkinson were on the ice for 2:07 when the goal was scored.
"That's not our game and we got it taken to us," Blue Jackets forward Boone Jenner said. "It was a combination of things as far as structure goes, just the energy and compete level was not to our standards.
"We've got to look in the mirror, obviously, and find our game again. It hurts. We know we're a better group in here."
Draisaitl extended the lead to 3-0 at 8:53 for his 40th goal of the season, completing a give-and-go with McDavid by beating Bobrovsky with a shot from the right circle.
"We started well, dictated the pace right out of the gate. We stuck to it," Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said. 'We got a couple and we didn't lay off them."

Alex Chiasson, who hadn't scored since Jan. 8, ended a 21-game goal drought and made it 4-0 at 14:26 of the second from a primary assist by McDavid. Chiasson has 18 goals this season.
"I've had some good looks lately, they just haven't gone in," he said. "Hopefully this one tonight gives me a little more freedom to play with my instincts."

They said it

"It was another good team performance. You don't have the best players in the League to be successful. You need to be the best team and that's what we're proven night in and night out. We've got a [heck] of a team going right now and we're not going to let go of the rope. This group is very tight and cohesive right now and we want to keep it going."-- Oilers coach Ken Hitchcock
"With everything that's gone on this season, it's kind of neat where we are in the standings. Opportunities don't come up like this every year. Playoff hockey is the best. Let's embrace this and move forward." -- Oilers forward Alex Chiasson
"We gave them speed. The way we played, the way we turned it over in the neutral zone, their guys had it easy. We didn't have any sustained forechecked." -- Blue Jackets defenseman Seth Jones

Need to know

Draisaitl, 23, is the first Oilers player since
Jimmy Carson
in 1988-89 (55 games) to reach 40 goals in 65 games or fewer. He joined Steven Stamkos (three times), Alex Ovechkin (three), Sidney Crosby (one) and Ilya Kovalchuk (one) as the only 23-and-under players to score 40 goals in the first 65 games played of a season since 1999-2000. … McDavid has eight points (two goals, six assists) in his past five games. He has 15 points (four goals, 11 assists) in seven games against Columbus. … The Blue Jackets have been shut out four times this season, three times at home.

What's next

Oilers: At the Buffalo Sabres on Monday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, SN1, SNE, SNO, SNP, TVAS, MSG-B, NHL.TV)
Blue Jackets:Host the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; SN, FS-O, NHL.TV)