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Cogliano answers Fritsche's late tally as Oilers win

Mar 8, 2008 - 3:55 AM COLUMBUS, Ohio (Ticker) -- The Columbus Blue Jackets finally scored, but it was not enough to keep them out of the franchise record book.

Dan Fritsche tied the game late in regulation, but rookie Andrew Cogliano scored 1:53 into overtime to help the Edmonton Oilers post a 2-1 victory over the slumping Blue Jackets on Friday.

Fernando Pisani tallied in regulation and Mathieu Garon stopped 30 shots as the Oilers handed the Blue Jackets their franchise-record seventh straight home loss (0-4-3).

"You are not going to win too many games in this league scoring just one goal," Columbus coach Ken Hitchcock said. "We're not getting sustained play by the people we need to get sustained play from. And that has been the case lately, especially here at home."

Garon was excellent, stopping the first 29 shots he faced before Fritsche's timely tally.

With Columbus on the brink of being shut out for a second straight game, Fritsche banged in a rebound from the left side of the crease with eight-tenths of a second left in the third period.

"It seems like nothing is ever easy for us," Edmonton coach Craig MacTavish said. "To give up that was disappointing at that time, obviously. We don't need to be giving Columbus points either, but had some satisfaction that we came back and got the win in overtime."

Edmonton took advantage of a turnover in overtime as Robert Nilsson set up Cogliano in the slot for a quick wrist shot that beat goaltender Pascal Leclaire between the pads for the game-winner.

"I shot it through the defenseman, which is always a good shot," Cogliano said. "I caught the five-hole, which is pretty lucky. It's always a good shot to take there."

"It's tough, for sure, because you want to win in regulation," Garon said. "But the way we responded in the overtime was good, and we took advantage of the chance we had there."

Despite the loss, Columbus (30-28-11) climbed within five points of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

"It came down to the wire, and we got the goal to go 1-1," Fritsche said. "But we needed those two points. It's a big point (to lose). Every single point down the stretch is critical."

The Blue Jackets, who were blanked by the Calgary Flames on Tuesday, lost despite outshooting the Oilers, 31-17.

"We're the 30th-scoring team in the National Hockey League," Hitchcock said. "So we have to manufacture goals. We are in the hunt because we check, we work, but we've had timely goals all year. Now, we're not getting that. We have people in droughts offensively and we are not getting timely goals, even though we are creating chances."

Pisani's 10th goal of the season at 11:02 of the first period opened the scoring. He took a pass from Ales Hemsky and fired a wrist shot from the left faceoff circle that sailed over Leclaire's shoulder.

Leclaire stopped 15 shots for Columbus, which was 0-for-4 on the power play. Over their last nine games, the Blue Jackets have failed to convert 31 man advantages.

"We just have to concentrate more on putting the puck on the net and scoring," Fritsche said. "We've got to get the power play going."