Blue Jackets eye history with 16th straight win

The Columbus Blue Jackets inched closer to NHL history yesterday, notching their 16th consecutive victory 3-1 over the Edmonton Oilers.
 Cam Atkinson and William Karlsson scored power-play goals and Nick Foligno added a third-period goal in the win, which put the Blue Jackets one victory away from tying the 1992-93 Pittsburgh Penguins for most successive NHL victories.
 Columbus goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky made 21 saves and extended his win streak to 14 games. The Blue Jackets struck first when Atkinson scored 1:12 into the first power play of the night after Jesse Puljujarvi was called for holding on Jack Johnson.
 Atkinson collected a feed from Zach Werenski in the high slot and rebounded the puck in off an Oilers defenseman with 7:28 left in the opening period.
 Edmonton equalized 5:39 into the second when Patrick Maroon fed Oscar Klefbom, who was entering the zone with speed. Klefbom fired from high between the circles for his sixth goal of the season.
 Less than five minutes later, 1:49 into the Jackets’ second power play of the night, Brandon Saad sent a cross-zone pass to Karlsson, whose shot from the right circle found the net. The goal marked Karlsson’s first career power-play goal. Karlsson was filling in on the second power play unit for Brandon Dubinsky, who fought Maroon earlier and was serving the resulting penalty.
Elsewhere...
Devils 3, Hurricanes 1: Adam Henrique and Mike Cammalleri each scored and set up a goal and Cory Schneider stopped 29 shots as the New Jersey Devils beat Carolina. Cammalleri’s 10th goal of the season came with 8:30 left with an assist from Henrique. Less than a minute after Cammalleri’s goal, Carolina rookie Sebastian Aho scored his eighth of the season to spoil a potential shutout for Schneider, who beat Boston 3-0 on Monday. Kyle Palmieri got an empty-net goal with two minutes left to seal victory.
Sabres 4, Rangers 1: Jack Eichel, Zemgus Girgensons, Evander Kane and Justin Bailey all scored while Anders Nilsson made 24 saves as the Buffalo Sabres defeated the New York Rangers. Defenseman Nick Holden scored his eighth goal of the season for New York. Henrk Lundqvist stopped 15 shots in defeat.
Capitals 6, Maple Leafs 5: Alex Ovechkin scored 22 seconds into overtime as the Washington Capitals rallied from a two-goal deficit in the third period to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs. Ovechkin took a crossing pass from John Carlson and ripped a quick shot past Toronto goalie Frederik Andersen, ending the Leafs’ five-game winning streak.
Jets 6, Lightning 4: A converted penalty shot by Nikolaj Ehlers sparked three successive goals in the second period for the Winnipeg Jets, who held on late for a 6-4 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning. Ehlers, who added a second goal in the third period, beat goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy on the penalty shot for a 2-1 lead, just 47 seconds after the Lightning had tied the game.
Canadiens 2, Predators 1: Shea Weber, acquired from Nashville in the offseason, notched the tying goal as Montreal rallied in overtime against his old team. Max Pacioretty supplied the winner at 4:30 of the extra session, squeezing a wrist shot past Pekka Rinne for his team-high 16th goal of the season. Kevin Fiala scored the Predators’ goal.
Kings 2, Sharks 1: Tanner Pearson capped a two-on-one break with a goal 58 seconds into overtime as the Los Angeles Kings beat the San Jose Sharks. Pearson tapped in Jeff Carter’s cross-ice feed with only Sharks defenseman Justin Braun back as San Jose’s Logan Couture committed a costly turnover. The Kings had tied the score 1-1 at 3:03 of the third period when Carter scored his 21st goal of the season by redirecting a shot-pass from defenseman Jake Muzzi. Logan Couture had opened the scoring for the Sharks in the second period.