Edmonton loses Hall, two-goal lead in Columbus

As doctors were stitching up the gruesome gash that stretched from the crown of Taylor Hall’s head to the top of his eyebrow, the Edmonton Oilers offensive sparkplug tried to convince all around him that he was ready to go.

Instead, Hall, who was injured in the pre-game warm-up and required treatment from the on-site plastic surgeon, was held out of Tuesday’s game while the undermanned Oilers jumped out to a 2-0 first period lead against the Columbus Blue Jackets in Nationwide Arena.

The 30th place Blue Jackets charged back and scored a 4-2 win at Nationwide Arena, leaving the Oilers with a record of 17-24-4 and one more player in the medical room.

“I was talking to him while the doctors were with him and, typical Taylor, he said, ‘I’ll be playing tonight,’ ”

said general manager Steve Tambellini, who was going to push his players to wear helmets and visors during the warm-ups.

Hall was not available after the game, but he did get on the stationary bike after he had been stitched up. Because he isn’t expected to have any complications from the freak three player pile-up, he hasn’t yet been ruled out for Thursday’s game against the St. Louis Blues.

Tambellini did not call up a forward from the Oklahoma City Barons.

“It was really scary. I saw it ­happen,” said captain Shawn Horcoff.

“I saw him go down then I saw (defenceman Corey Potter) jump. He actually kicked him on the way down.

“It didn’t look good.”

Hall, who wasn’t wearing a helmet, stepped on a puck in the warm-up and as he was falling to the ice, he slid into teammate Ladislav Smid and both skidded into the side boards. While they were still down on the ice, Potter, attempting to avoid the pile-up, tried to hop over Hall and instead clipped him in the head.

Potter, coincidentally, got tangled up with fellow blue-liner Ryan Whitney back in a November game against the Vancouver Canucks. Whitney missed 13 games with a sprained knee. It was also the second time this season that the Oilers lost a player in a pre-game warm-up.

On Nov. 17, defenceman Andy Sutton aggravated a groin injury before the opening faceoff and missed the next six games.

“I just turned the corner and I had two guys sliding at me. I just tried to get of the way but unfortunately, I came in contact with Hallsy’s head,” said Potter. “I didn’t really step on him. I tried to jump over him and kicked him.

“It’s a good thing he’s okay. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a cut that bad that close before.

“It was pretty gross. I was pretty freaked out in the warm-up because I was worried.”

Potter saw that Hall was getting treatment in the rink, not at the hospital, easing his guilt before the game got underway.

“I hate to see something like that. I was pretty disgusting,” said Smid. “But it just sucks to lose the way we did. We should be beating teams like that.”

Seven minutes after the puck dropped, Anton Lander skated around Derick Brassard, zipped across the Blue Jackets crease, then tapped his second goal of the season past goaltender Curtis Sanford.

Less than two minutes later, Ben Eager put Edmonton up by a pair, but the Jackets started to chip away at the lead in the second.

Rookie Ryan Johansen slipped his eighth goal under Devan Dubnyk’s left pad to start the period then with just eight-tenths of a second left on the clock, Brassard banged his own rebound off Oilers defenceman Jeff Petry. The puck rolled up and over Dubnyk’s right glove.

Thirty-two seconds into the third, newcomer Colton Gillies, acquired off the waiver wire, stole the puck in the Oilers end and slid it over to Derek MacKenzie, who put the Jackets up 3-2. Derek Dorsett scored an empty-net power-play goal to close out the game.

Edmonton (17-24-4) plays the Blues in St. Louis on Thursday. The Jackets (13-27-5) are now 2-2 under interim head coach Todd Richards.

“A little bit of a man-power problem for starters,” said head coach Tom Renney, “and we came a little unglued in the second period and gave them a chance to feel a little better about their game. We tried to push through in the third, but tough start with the go-ahead goal. We just couldn’t muster enough to push through and get the offence we needed.”

Hall was the lone member left from the Oilers top line as both Jordan Eberle (knee) and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (ankle) left the lineup this month. They followed defencemen Ryan Whitney (foot), Cam Barker (ankle) and Tom Gilbert (ankle).

“These are the cards we’ve been dealt,” said Renney. “We have to sit at the table and play.”