The Columbus Blue Jackets returned to the ice Wednesday to take on the Edmonton Oilers on the heels of Saturday night’s meltdown and collapse against the Philadelphia Flyers.
With the losses of Ryan Murray and Alexandre Texier to injury, Jakob Lilja and Markus Nutivaara returned to the lineup. Joonas Korpisalo got the start in net.
Here’s what happened in Nationwide Arena.
First Period
The worst thing Columbus could do was take penalties and play poorly on defense.
The Jackets did exactly that.
The Jackets allowed a power play goal to James Neal and another goal to Leon Draisaitl just after a power play ended and found themselves down 2-0 after the first period. The Oilers also hit three posts in the first.
Second Period
The Jackets continued to flounder. The team allowed two more goals early, one each to Jujhar Khaira and Leon Draisaitl. Joonas Korpisalo was yanked for Elvis Merzlikins after allowing 4 goals on 12 shots.
Zach Werenski scored a power play goal to make it 4-1. Merzlikins made seven saves on seven shots in relief. The Jackets wasted 1:47 of a 5 of 3, generating just three shots on net and nearly allowing a shorthanded breakaway to Zack Kassian.
Third Period
Here’s a highlight.
Here’s the nice stop by Elvis Merzlikins on Patrick Russell #CBJ pic.twitter.com/6DZtPqsQLf
— Jeff Svoboda (@JacketsInsider) October 31, 2019
That’s about it for the third period.
Final
Edmonton Oilers 4 Columbus Blue Jackets 1
Stay turned for tomorrow’s full recap and postgame analysis.