Oilers’ skid halted

COLUMBUS, Ohio—Devan Dubnyk held things down on his end of the ice, and his Edmonton Oilers’ teammates took advantage of just enough opportunities to end their five-game losing streak.
Magnus Paajarvi scored a go-ahead short-handed goal with 3:10 to go, and Dubnyk made 39 saves, to lift Edmonton past the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-1 last night.

“You need a goalie to steal one for you once in a while,” noted Oilers’ coach Ralph Krueger.
“We were really flat as a team and he was just world class and outstanding all the way through.
“He stuck with it even after it was 1-1,” Krueger added. “He was our leader today in every category.”
Sam Gagner added an empty-netter—Edmonton’s second goal on just three third-period shots—and assisted on the game-winner.
Ales Hemsky scored in the first period for the Oilers, who still have earned points in four of their last six.
“A little more work than usual,” noted Dubnyk, who tracked the puck well all game, particularly on Columbus’ seven power plays.
“But that’s how you have to win games sometimes,” he reasoned. “That’s my job to stop whatever comes at me.”
Gagner also gave all the credit to the game’s No. 1 star.
“We were pretty flat for most of the night coming off a back-to-back,” he said, referring to Saturday’s 2-1 loss in Detroit.
“We just didn’t have our legs for whatever reason.”
R.J. Umberger finally scored his first of the season to tie it in the third for Columbus, which lost its third-straight despite outshooting the Oilers 40-14 overall and 15-3 in the third period.
“Tonight was definitely our highest-scoring chance game that we created,” said Blue Jackets’ coach Todd Richards.
“The goalie was the difference in the game.”
Dubnyk seemed poised for his fifth career shutout until Umberger broke through. He stepped around Hemsky and Gagner before scoring with a low shot from the slot at 9:43
Edmonton didn’t have a shot at that point of the period and Columbus continued to press.
Four minutes later, Matt Calvert skimmed a shot off the right post and Nick Foligno did the same not long after that on a man-advantage.
Elsewhere in the NHL, Detroit nipped L.A. 3-2, Boston beat Buffalo 3-1, the N.Y. Rangers dumped Tampa Bay 5-1, New Jersey downed Pittsburgh 3-1, and Chicago blanked Nashville 3-0.