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Third-period goals power Oilers past Blue Jackets

Nov 27, 2007 - 6:58 AM EDMONTON, Alberta (Ticker) -- The Columbus Blue Jackets have a bad habit of playing to the level of their competition lately.

Rookie Andrew Cogliano scored the go-ahead goal for the Edmonton Oilers midway through the final period as they handed the Blue Jackets a 3-1 defeat on Monday.

Columbus defeated Central Division-leading Detroit, 3-2, in a shootout one day after it beat Northwest leader Minnesota, 4-0. However, it could not continue the stretch of strong play against Edmonton, who is in last place of the Northwest Division with 21 points.

"I don't think we (took Edmonton for granted)," Columbus coach Ken Hitchcock said. "We got ourselves on special teams and we didn't work, bottom line."

The numbers supported Hitchcock's assessment as the Blue Jackets held a 37-20 shot advantage but went just 1-for-7 on the power play, including a 5-on-3 opportunity for about a minute with less than four minutes remaining.

"We've got to be better," Blue Jackets left wing Rick Nash said. "We had a chance (in the third period) to tie the game and when you've got a 5-on-3, you've got to be better."

"Our 5-on-5 play gave us a chance to go on the power play and we didn't get it done," Hitchcock said. "I don't think we competed near to the level we needed to on the power play to be effective. We didn't have enough guys willing to hunt down loose pucks and do what we needed to do. I thought their penalty kill outworked us and that was the difference for us in the game."

With the score tied at 1-1, left wing Robert Nilsson found Cogliano streaking the down the middle of the ice. On the left side of the crease, Cogliano was able to deflect the centering pass past Columbus goaltender Fredrik Norrena for a 2-1 lead at 9:27 of the third period.

The score made up for a goal that Cogliano was not credited with earlier in the period. He took the puck at Norrena on a breakaway and was able to beat the netminder, who was out in front of the crease.

However, the puck moved very slowly past Norrena, allowing Columbus defenseman Ron Hainsey to knock the puck off the line just in time to keep the contest tied at 1-1. The play went to a review but was ruled not a goal.

"I was sliding into the boards, so I couldn't really tell, but I heard the crowd and I thought maybe there was a chance (the puck crossed the line)," Cogliano said. "I was thinking I could have made a better play going into the net but it wasn't meant to be. Hainsey made a nice play from the back, and there was nothing you could do."

Edmonton right wing Ales Hemsky scored a empty-net goal with 16 seconds remaining to extend his point-scoring streak to four games.

Hainsey scored the lone goal for the Blue Jackets, who fell to 4-6-2 on the road this season.