Blue Jackets 4, Oilers 2
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Columbus Blue Jackets got a much-needed home win, and a sweet taste of revenge against the Edmonton Oilers, too.
The Blue Jackets established the pace of the game in the first period and then scored three second-period goals to pull away for a 4-2 win on Friday night before 14,360 in Nationwide Arena.
Ryan Johansen, Artem Anisimov, Nick Foligno and Jack Skille scored for the Blue Jackets. Matt Calvert had two assists.
Sam Gagne and Jordan Eberle scored third-period goals for the Oilers after the Blue Jackets had staked a 4-0 lead.
Sergei Bobrovsky had 25 saves for the Blue Jackets, outplaying his close friend, countryman and former Philadelphia Flyers teammate Ilya Bryzgalov.
Bryzgalov, who had a 33-save shutout on Thursday in Nashville, was not nearly as sharp in his second start for Edmonton. He stopped 24 of 28 shots, suffering his first loss with the Oilers.
But the goaltenders were merely the subtext.
Just 10 days earlier, the Blue Jackets suffered a 7-0 loss in Edmonton, one of the most lopsided losses in franchise history.
The Blue Jackets had played four games since then, but losing by a "touchdown" to the Oilers continued to resonate, with coach Todd Richards calling last night's rematch personal.
It didn't take long for the Blue Jackets to take charge. But it took them a while to pull away.
At 7:50 of the first period, Johansen gathered a puck behind the net and carried it into the left faceoff circle, snapping off a wrister that beat Bryzgalov under the crossbar.
At 3:34 of the second period, Anisimov was credited with a power play goal when Calvert's shot from the doorstep to Bryzgalov's left hit off Anisimov's leg and shot into the net to make it 2-0.
Another power play goal -- this one a five-on-three goal at 10:30 of the second period -- made it 3-0. Foligno was set up in the crease when rookie Boone Jenner feathered a soft pass in from the right circle.
Skille made it 4-0 late in the second period when Tropp sprung him on a breakaway from the Blue Jackets' zone.
The Oilers avoided being shutout midway through the third period.
Gagner scored from below the goal line, nearly along the wall in the corner of the rink to Bobrovsky's right. The puck caromed off his right pad and into the net.
Eberle scored through a screen with 4:21 to play, but the Oilers couldn't get any closer.
NOTES: Blue Jackets LW Corey Tropp, claimed off waivers from Buffalo on Thursday, made his debut, playing on the fourth line. ... With Blue Jackets LW Jared Boll sidelined because of a foot injury, the Oilers scratched their tough guy, LW Luke Gazdic. ... Oilers LW Taylor Hall had a power play breakaway midway through the first period that would have cut the lead to 2-1, but he fired high and wide of Blue Jackets G Sergei Bobrovsky. ... Blue Jackets D Nikita Nikitin was a game-time decision with a knee injury but was able to play. ... The Blue Jackets could get two of their top forwards back within a few weeks. C Brandon Dubinsky, out with a bone bruise in his left foot, is skating gingerly but feeling better every day. RW Marian Gaborik, out since Nov. 14 with a knee injury, has begun riding an exercise bike with no setbacks.
