GAME RECAP: Oilers 4, Blue Jackets 1

EDMONTON, AB – Thanks to a steady and stupendous Stuart Skinner, the streak goes on.

The 25-year-old netminder turned in another terrific performance on Thursday night in a 4-1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets, making 27 saves on 28 shots to backstop the Edmonton Oilers to their 14th straight victory and break Grant Fuhr's franchise record for consecutive wins with his 11th in a row.

"It means a lot," Skinner said. "I was feeling a lot of emotion, especially when I went out on the ice as the First Star there just because it's pretty cool being able to break a record from one of the best goalies to ever live. So obviously, he's a guy that I look up to, a guy that I've talked to, and he's just one of the best, so I'm very fortunate to be able to break it."

After Skinner steadied the ship in the first 40 minutes, the Oilers scored twice in 55 seconds during the third period through Evander Kane and Connor McDavid to make it 3-1 before Dylan Holloway added his second goal of the season in the final of five minutes of regulation to condemn the Blue Jackets to their 21st blown lead in 2023-24.

"I think that's why goalies love to play the game," Skinner said. "I think moments like that where you're able to come up with a couple of big saves and keep your team in it, a big part of our job is just being able to give our team a chance to win. I think I did that for a couple of periods, and then in the third period, we took it home. So it's a really good pushback by our group."

Warren Foegele reached double-digit goals this season with his first power-play tally of the campaign in the first period, along with adding an assist to make it 15 points (6G, 9A) over Edmonton's current 14-game win streak.

The Oilers will look to keep their win streak going when the Chicago Blackhawks pay a visit to Rogers Place on Thursday night.

FIRST PERIOD

The Oilers were locked into a 1-1 game through 20 minutes, but inside the dressing room during the first intermission, they would've felt lucky to be even with the Blue Jackets after turning the puck over with a bit too much regularity in the opening frame.

Edmonton was responsible for 13 giveaways to Columbus in the first period, putting the pressure on their netminder Stuart Skinner to make up for some of their defensive miscues in their own zone.

Skinner had to make two great stops back-to-back on Kirill Marchenko and Kent Johnson almost five-and-a-half minutes into the frame and made 12 total saves in the first period to back up his teammates, who've praised their netminder's ability to keep them in games over their 13-game win streak and in recent months with a 17-2-0 record in his last 19 starts.

His contributions early on Tuesday were again vital for the Blue & Orange, who took the lead shortly after with the man advantage on Warren Foegele's 10th goal of the season.

Foegele found the back of the net on a shift with Edmonton's PP2 unit with Andrew Peeke in the box for holding Mattias Janmark, registering his first PP point during the Oilers win streak after adding 13 even-strength points with five goals and eight assists in his team's 13 consecutive victories.

Evander Kane had the puck sauced to him along the wall by Darnell Nurse, and the winger cut to the net and threw a pass in front that was scraped over the line and under goaltender Elvis Merzlikins by Foegele to reach double-digit goals.

However, the Oilers skaters remained reliant on their netminder to clean up their mistakes, and Columbus eventually made them regret that.

The Edmonton-born crease protector even nabbed a breakaway shot from Johnny Gaudreau with an emphatic glove save, denying the former Flames forward who waged plenty of battles with the Oilers team over the years, but another breakdown around their blue paint cost them the equalizer.

A shot pass below the goal line from Vincent Desharnais to Sam Gagner was bobbled by the 34-year-old, leading to Dmitri Voronkov taking the puck and working a give-and-go with Kent Johnson to deliver the 1-1 goal under the sliding Skinner, who tried his best to make a heroic diving save but to didn't succeed.

SECOND PERIOD

Columbus dominated Edmonton in the middle frame to put their streak in serious jeopardy, but Skinner continued to keep his team in it during the middle frame by making 10 more solid stops.

"I think it starts off with Stu keeping us in that game," Foegele said. "That honestly could have been 5-0 after the first two periods. He was rock solid and he's been playing unbelievable."

The Blue Jackets were fresh for Tuesday's tilt at Rogers Place after playing their last game on Thursday in a 4-1 defeat to the New Jersey Devils where they opened the scoring before allowing four straight goals in the final period to suffer their 20th blown lead. Columbus was searching for their first regulation win since Dec. 19 when they put up new goals against the Buffalo Sabres, but Skinner was the main reason on Tuesday they couldn't turn their positive push into any sort of advantage on the scoreboard.

Columbus has scored the ninth-fewest goals in the NHL this season (133), but they've been a formidable five-on-five team with the 10th most goals in the League at even strength (99), where they were owning the pace of play against Edmonton through 40 minutes. Giveaways and takeaways continued to cost the Oilers, causing them to get hemmed into their own end as the Blue Jackets carried the majority of the offensive-zone time after two periods.

"We got away with one. We can't rely on that," Knoblauch said of his team's victory. "Yes, we've got a great goalie, but we got to check better. We got to manage the puck. I think we were just waiting for the puck to come to us and we got to skate, we got to work to get it back, and they were the faster team in the first 40 minutes. It definitely looked like that."

The Oilers were the only team to have the puck in the back of the net during the second period on a 4-on-3 power play, but another coach's challenge took away what would've been Connor McDavid's 17th goal of the season after he went five-hole on Merzlikins near the midway mark of the period.

The captain sauced a sideways pass to Zach Hyman on the zone entry, but the captain couldn't hold up at the blueline, making it offside and a routine review for the often-punished Oilers when it comes to reviews this season.

THIRD PERIOD

With their 14th win in a row still within their grasp, the Blue & Orange battled back in the final frame to keep the streak intact.

Edmonton scored twice in 55 seconds during the first 10 minutes of the third period through Evander Kane and Connor McDavid to pull away from Columbus and collect another two points that came in another close game that was carried by their goaltender.

"I think it's just kind of been a lot of work going into the third period," Skinner said. "Especially when we're in these tight games, we know what's on the line for us. Every point is massive and we know that, and going into the third periods, we've been either down one or up one. So yeah, just critical periods and that's when we love to come out and shine."

The Oilers took the lead through Evander Kane at 16:07 of the final frame when the winger converted his 15th goal of the campaign on the rebound from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins' deflection that struck the post inside the first five minutes of the final frame.

Less than a minute later, Zach Hyman was shoved into the Columbus crease and onto Merzlikins, leaving McDavid the opportunity to take a quick shot from between the hash marks that rolled up the netminder's right pad and over the line with him lying down on his back from the collision with Hyman.

After having a goal disallowed in the second period, there was no challenge from Columbus' bench for this one after Erik Gudbranson caused the collision with his push into the back of Edmonton's leading scorer.

Edmonton added extra insurance on their 15th straight victory through Dylan Holloway with 4:24 remaining in regulation, shovelling home the rebound after Connor Brown had a wide-open one-timer from between the hash marks denied by the Blue Jackets' crease guard.

"He's played two really good games for us and he's played a little bit tonight on the left wing, but primarily he's been a centre," Knoblauch said. "It's nice to know that you've got that center depth because you never know what happens and it's nice to have that, and he's been physical, he's been fast, he's been really reliable on the defensive side of the puck, so it's a good addition for our team."

Holloway has picked up points in back-to-back games after swapping to centre on the fourth line for his return from a nearly two-month injury absence on Saturday against the Calgary Flames, but was part of a lineup shuffle from Coach Knoblauch in the third period on Tuesday that helped spark the win.

"We needed to shake things up, and players responded. All the guys in the third period played really well," Knoblauch said. "I think the McLeod line with Holloway and Brown really got our momentum going in the third period. They played well. I think it was DR's line after that led to another. Overall, we just kept our game a lot more simple, worked a lot harder, skated a lot faster, and created a few more chances."

Edmonton hands Columbus their 21st blown lead and improves to 22-15-1 overall heading into Thursday's visit to Rogers Place from the Chicago Blackhawks.

"It's been a lot of fun," Skinner said. "I mean, every single game is so different, right? There are games where it's been tight, games where we kind of take over, games where other teams take over, so it's just been a lot of resilience from our group going off the streak and going off my play and everybody's play.

"It's been pretty amazing to watch this group work to where we are today. At the same time, we have a lot of work to do.

"We're kind of in the middle part and there's a lot of work to be done. So it's up to us to keep moving forward here."

PARTING WORDS

Skinner on if he can recall a turning point in his career leading to his recent success:

"I couldn't really pinpoint it. I think it's just, again, I've said it a few times, but just the resiliency from all of us. It starts with everybody in this dressing room. When starts like that happen, it's up to the guys how we're going to react to it, and being able to show kind of what we're doing, being able to win close games, being able to fight, battle, grind every single night, it's fun to be a part of."

Skinner on his improvement and how much better he can get:

"I'm hoping a lot better. I think for me it's a lot about just growing. Obviously we all love the game. Our job is to keep on getting better every single day. I'm hoping that I have a lot of years left and there's a lot of growth for me to have. I learned a very valuable lesson after that first goal and just going to keep on doing that. So sky's the limit as we like to say, but I got to keep on working on my craft."

Knoblauch on the Oilers getting contributions from their whole lineup during the win streak:

"We need contributions from everybody, and it's nice to see guys chip in throughout the stretch. Maybe they don't have the most five-on-five points, but Leon and Connor have been our best players for most nights and I think they've been very unfortunate that they don't have more goals than they have, but they're not going to be able to score every single night. You need that depth and we've got guys who are jumping the bit to contribute.

And two of the guys that you mentioned, McLeod and Fogele, have played really well and they've been used in different situations. Foegele pretty much through this stretch has always been on Leon's side, but you think about the versatility of McLeod moving left wing, playing centre and playing with many linemates throughout this stretch. So it's nice to have, nice for a coach to have the versatility of being able to change your lineup."