Blue Jackets beat Oilers for 7th straight victory

EDMONTON, Alberta - Sam Gagner had a goal and an assist, and the streaking Columbus Blue Jackets won their seventh straight game by beating the Edmonton Oilers 3-1 on Tuesday night.

Cam Atkinson and Matt Calvert also scored to help the Blue Jackets (18-5-4) improve to 8-0-1 in their last nine games.

Tyler Pitlick had the goal for the Oilers (15-12-5), who have lost five of six.

Edmonton got on the scoreboard first, just past the midpoint of the opening period as a hard-charging Pitlick got to a rebound in the blue paint and chipped it over Blue Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky.

The Oilers appeared to add another with 4 minutes left in the first, but officials determined forward Zack Kassian interfered with the goalie on the play.

Columbus tied the game on a power play 8 minutes into the second period when Gagner came back to hurt his old team. The puck went off the toe of his skate and past Edmonton goalie Cam Talbot for Gagner's fourth goal in the last four games and 12th of the season.

The Blue Jackets made it 2-1 at 7:10 of the third as a pass deflected to Atkinson and he hammered his 11th of the season past Talbot.

Columbus added to its lead 1:36 later when Calvert took advantage of a sloppy Oilers line change and rifled a shot off Talbot's arm and into the net.

The Blue Jackets completely took over in the third and were outshooting Edmonton 12-0 midway through the period.

NOTES: It was the first of two meetings between the teams this season. The other one is Jan. 3 in Columbus. ... Oilers D Brandon Davidson played his first game since injuring his shoulder in the season opener Oct. 12 against Calgary. It was good news for Edmonton, which announced that fellow defenseman Darnell Nurse could miss up to three months following ankle surgery. ... Columbus captain Nick Foligno returned to the lineup after missing two games with the flu.

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