Right back in the loss column for the Edmonton Oilers.

On Thursday evening, the Oilers played the second game against the Columbus Blue Jackets in just 72 hours. Unlike Monday’s game, the Oilers couldn’t rally late, falling 5-4 to the Eastern Conference team. Let’s take a look at what went on in this one.

In the final five minutes of the first period, the Blue Jackets took the lead. A shot by Charlie Coyle from the point was deflected in front of the net by Mathieu Olivier to give the Jackets a 1-0 lead.

Early in the second period, the Blue Jackets extended their lead to two, as Olivier stole the puck from Connor McDavid, drove the net, and Coyle tapped it in for a 2-0 lead.

The Oilers cut the lead in half midway through the second period. It was Matthew Savoie scoring his second career goal, deflecting an Evan Bouchard shot past the Blue Jackets’ netminder.

Less than two minutes later, the Oilers tied the game. After a faceoff win in the offensive zone, Bouchard found Leon Draisaitl with a cross-ice pass, one-timing off the post to bring the game to 2-2.

That lead didn’t last long, as the Blue Jackets retook it just half a minute later. A shot from the point bounced off the end boards, right to the stick of Denton Mateychuk in the slot. Late in the second, the Blue Jackets took a 4-2 lead thanks to poor Oilers’ defence and Adam Fantilli’s third goal in as many games.

Things went from bad to worse about eight minutes into the third period, as Olivier was left all alone in front of the net, chipping it past Calvin Pickard. The Oilers had a quick response to stop the bleeding, as the puck found its way to Vasily Podklozin in the slot. Podkolzin made no mistake in scoring his third of the season.

The Oilers made a game of it midway through the third period off a faceoff play. After the faceoff win, Draisaitl got the puck to Bouchard, who passed it back to the German. Draisaitl went far side to bring the Oilers to within one.

Columbus deserved to win that game. The shots were similar, as the Oilers had 26 shots on net and the Jackets had 25. However, according to Natural Stat Trick, the Oilers only mustered three high-danger scoring chances to the Blue Jackets’ 12.

There was a lot of line blending during five-on-five play in this game. There were eight different lines with two or more minutes. The best of the bunch was the Jack Roslovic, Adam Henrique, and Vasily Podkolzin line, accounting for 67.87 percent of the expected goal share.

To start the game, the Oilers had Andrew Mangiapane with Connor McDavid and Matthew Savoie, with that trio accounting for 6.34 percent of the expected goal share. When Leon Draisaitl joined McDavid and Savoie, that trio had 65.49 percent of the expected goal share.

Mangiapane just hasn’t been a fit on the Oilers. He finished as a -4 in this game, giving him a team-worst -15 this season. Three of his six points came in the first three games, with two of his four goals coming in the first two games. It’s looking like a similar misfit to the Viktor Arvidsson and Jeff Skinner additions back in 2024.

On the other hand, Savoie had another strong game, scoring his second career goal. He played just under 20 minutes, which shows that the Oilers are starting to trust him in a top-six role. While he only had one point, he was all over the ice and even drew a penalty in the first shift of the third period.

McDavid picked up two assists, bringing him to 27 points, second in the league. With two goals, Draisaitl now has 12 goals this season, tied for second in the league. Evan Bouchard led the Oilers with three points, getting three assists in 25 minutes of ice time. Mattias Ekholm was held pointless but was +2, while all other Oilers defencemen finished as a minus.

Calvin Pickard had a tough start, allowing five goals on 25 shots for an .800 save percentage. At some point, the Oilers need to think about bringing on a new backup as Pickard has an .830 save percentage. That said, the defence didn’t help him much.

Edmonton’s seven-game road trip continues on Saturday, as they head to Raleigh, North Carolina, to play the Hurricanes on Saturday at 5:00 PM MT. The Oilers now sit 8-7-4 on the season.