NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE Bittersweet: Blue Jackets come close to victory

Instead, Rick Nash helped them earn a tie with Edmonton.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Rick Nash scored his NHL-leading 28th goal and added an assist to help the Columbus Blue Jackets tie the Edmonton Oilers 4-4 on Sunday night.
The puck was behind Nash after he took a pass from David Vyborny a minute into the third period. Nash regained control by tapping the puck back between his skates with a defenseman draped on his back before jamming it past goaltender Ty Conklin to give Columbus a 4-3 lead.
The Oilers' Eric Brewer scored his second goal of the season 5:45 into the third to tie it.
Overtime opportunity
There were plenty of prime scoring chances the rest of the way -- the best coming when Nash fed fellow 19-year-old Nikolai Zherdev and his shot was just wide with 41 seconds left in overtime.
Mike York, Ethan Moreau and Brad Isbister also had goals for Edmonton, while Steve Staios matched his career high with three points and Radek Dvorak added two assists.
Vyborny also tied a career high with three points on a goal and two assists. Zherdev added his sixth goal and Tyler Wright had his third of the season for the Blue Jackets.
Goals came in bunches throughout the game, the third of four meetings between the teams this season.
Vyborny got his 13th goal off a centering pass from behind the goal line from Nash at 3:21 of the opening period. York then circled around the net and slipped a backhander past Columbus goaltender Marc Denis for his 15th of the season.
The Blue Jackets built a 3-1 lead on goals by Wright and Zherdev's sixth -- the latter coming on a five-on-three at the 7:12 mark of the second.
The Oilers pulled even with two goals within 15 seconds later in the period. Moreau redirected a shot in the slot for his ninth goal before Isbister scored a quick goal on Radek Dvorak's pretty no-look, behind-the-back feed from behind the net.
The Blue Jackets had 1:38 with a two-man advantage in the second period, then started the third with another five-on-three on which Nash scored.
Brewer's one-timer from the right dot after a cross-ice pass from Ales Hemsky evened it for the final time.
Nash's drive from just inside the blue line evaded Conklin but hit the far post with 10:08 left in regulation.
Notes
Columbus D Darryl Sydor was slammed into the boards midway through the third period and needed help to leave the ice. ... It was the sixth sellout of the season for the Blue Jackets. ... Edmonton remained winless in the second game of back-to-backs (0-4-2-1). ... Zherdev extended his points streak to four games (3-3-6).