After Edmonton scored the first three goals of the game <a title="Jarvis Jenkins Jersey" href="http://www.chiefscheapstore.com/jarvis-jenkins-jersey-cheap">Jarvis Jenkins Jersey</a> , the Columbus Blue Jackets made it apparent which team was still fighting for a playoff spot and which team was already out of the race.
Thomas Vanek had three goals and an assist to lift the Blue Jackets over the Oilers 7-3 on Tuesday night.
”We were down 3-0, but it didn’t feel like it because it was just a couple of dumb mistakes that cost us,” Vanek said. ”We felt fine about our game going into the game and even being down 3-0 we felt OK. We showed a lot of character and it was a big two points again.”
Artemi Panarin, Boone Jenner, Cam Atkinson and Markus Nutivaara also scored for the Blue Jackets, who have won 11 of 12. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 22 shots.
”We just kept pushing and at the end of the day we played a really good game, I think,” said Columbus forward Alexander Wennberg, who ended the night with a plus-six rating.
Connor McDavid had a goal and two assists, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Drake Caggiula also scored for the Oilers, who have lost two straight. Cam Talbot stopped 13 of 18 shots before being replaced by Laurent Brossoit.
”It was awful, horrible,” McDavid said of his team’s collapse. ”We had the good start (tonight) and then the game just went right back to where we were at during the start of the year. It’s disappointing as we had been pretty good of late.”
Edmonton got on the board 3:37 into the first period when a mix-up behind the net between Bobrovsky and Nutivaara allowed McDavid to steal the puck and send it out front to Nugent-Hopkins for his 22nd of the season. McDavid picked up his 100th point, tying his league-leading total from last year.
Linesman Steve Barton was stretchered off following a collision with McDavid in the first period. Columbus’ Zach Werenski ran into McDavid and sent him flying into Barton, who hit his head hard on the ice. Sportsnet reported that Barton was taken to a hospital <a title="Cris Carter Jersey" href="http://www.vikingscheapstore.com/cris-carter-jersey-cheap">Cris Carter Jersey</a> , where he was able to speak with doctors and move all extremities.
McDavid scored a short-handed goal later in the period, his career-high 40th of the season. He’s the first Oilers player to hit the mark since Petr Klima did it in 1991.
Edmonton made it 3-0 on the power play midway through the first when Caggiula blasted a puck top corner past Bobrovsky.
Columbus came roaring back with a pair of goals within a minute, as Vanek’s shot caromed off a defender and past Talbot, and then Panarin scored his 26th on a rebound.
Vanek tipped in his 23rd of the season off a shot by David Savard with 3:20 left.
Jenner put Columbus ahead with a goal 1:38 into the second, and Atkinson and Vanek followed to make it a blowout. Nutivaara piled on with a goal in the third.
UP NEXT
Blue Jackets: Play at Calgary on Thursday night.
Oilers: Play at Vancouver on Thursday night.
—
Shaquem Griffin came back. The crowd loved it.
Players in attendance not selected in the first two days of the NFL draft usually head out of town before the fourth through seventh rounds.
Griffin, who sat through 100 names being called in the first three rounds, wasn’t in AT&T Stadium on Saturday.
Then he was after Seattle spent the 141st overall selection on the Central Florida linebacker who has no left hand.
That fifth-round choice, announced in Seattle, drew loud cheers from fans at Jerry’s World.
Griffin, whose left hand was amputated when he was young, has become the feel-good story this year and one of the most popular players in this draft because of his perseverance, outgoing personality and, of course, his talent.
”I mean that was amazing,” Griffin said. ”To even have an opportunity to come back <a title="Davonte Lambert Jersey" href="http://www.buccaneerscheapstore.com/davonte-lambert-jersey-cheap">Davonte Lambert Jersey</a> , I didn’t think I was going to be able to come back and do it … I don’t remember seeing too many people who have left and came back.
”That was the most amazing experience of my entire life. Me thinking about it, that moment, to be up on that stage and having the crowd go crazy, it was like we had won the Peach Bowl all over again. It was nuts.”
Griffin helped UCF go undefeated last season, then blew through the NFL combine with a 4.38 in the 40, sensational lifting work with his prosthetic, and a can-do attitude.
Exactly the sort of player the Seahawks seem to find; they drafted his twin brother, Shaquill, out of UCF last year.
”It’s been a really good experience,” Shaquem said. ”I would have been crazy to turn an experience down like this. I’m just glad I was one of the selected few to be here.”
Griffin had one of the more unusual ways of finding out he was chosen.
”I was using the restroom and my brother came and tackled me with my cellphone, saying `answer it, answer it,’ and I looked, and that’s when tears started pouring down,” Griffin explained.
”I literally went to use the restroom and that’s when my brother busted in and tackled me. I think I was more scared of him tackling me in the bathroom and not knowing what was happening than anything.”
Griffin received <a title="Jaleel Johnson Jersey" href="http://www.vikingscheapstore.com/jaleel-johnson-jersey-cheap">Jaleel Johnson Jersey</a> , by far, the biggest cheers of the day – louder even than when the Cowboys‘ selections were announced. And he made a promise: ”Great things are coming to Seattle.”
Griffin’s selection early in the fifth round enlivened a day in which most picks are relatively unknown or obscure players. Not all, though.
Michigan defensive tackle Maurice Hurst was taken one spot in front of Griffin by Oakland. The All-American would have gone much earlier, but a heart condition was discovered at the combine, dropping him far down draft boards.
He had 5 sacks as an interior rusher and led all nose tackles and defensive tackles with 49 total quarterback pressures, according to Pro Football Focus.
”It’s tough thinking that you’re one of the top players in the draft and having good tape and everything like that, just having to wait,” Hurst said. ”You believe you’re better than guys who go ahead of you is tough. I’m just happy to be in the right place and a great organization.”
As for his health, ”I’m ready to go right now.”
Another All-American, Iowa linebacker Josey Jewell, was taken by Denver at No. 106. He’s not considered quick, but he is active and seemed to be in on every tackle for the Hawkeyes.
”A lot of that is instincts. A lot of film watching for me,” he said. ”It really helped me because I did not run the fastest time ever, not even close. I had to be able to make up from somewhere else.”
Also:
-Michigan State extended its streak of having at least one player selected to 78 years when Brian Allen went to the Rams early in the fourth round. Only Michigan and USC have longer streaks, both extended to 80 years during the first two days of the draft.
-The Giants took the first quarterback of the third day <a title="O. J. Simpson Jersey" href="http://www.billscheapstore.com/o.-j.-simpson-jersey-cheap">O. J. Simpson Jersey</a> , Richmond’s Kyle Lauletta at No. 109. The Giants passed on trying to get their quarterback of the future to replace Eli Manning in the first round, taking running back Saquon Barkley at No. 2 overall. Lauletta doesn’t have a big arm, but he showed good athleticism and accuracy playing at the FCS school.
Other quarterbacks chosen: Western Kentucky’s Mike White to Dallas; Washington State’s Luke Falk to Tennessee; Nebraska’s Tanner Lee to Jacksonville; LSU’s Danny Etling to New England; Florida International’s Alex McGeough to Seattle; and Toledo’s Logan Woodside to Cincinnati.
-Dallas acquired wideout Tavon Austin from the Rams in a trade Saturday.
-Cleveland used a fourth-round pick, No. 105 overall, to take one of the draft’s most talented but troubled wide receivers: Florida’s Antonio Callaway. He had multiple suspensions while playing with the Gators, missing all of last season because of his part in a credit card fraud scheme.
When Callaway plays he is a deep threat receiver and dangerous return man, but he could be the next Josh Gordon, who has had many off-field issues and NFL suspensions with the Browns.
–Wisconsin tight end Troy Fumagalli, who is missing the index finger on his left hand, went to Denver in the fifth round.
-Three punters – yes, three – were taken in the fifth round.
Michael Dickson, the Australian from the University of Texas, was picked 149th overall by Seattle. Alabama’s JK Scott was drafted 172nd overall by Green Bay, a pick before Oakland took Johnny Townsend from <a title="Football Jerseys Wholesale" href="http://www.officialusafootballs.com">Football Jerseys Wholesale</a>
