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There’s no place like home. Just question the Edmonton Oilers.

Kristian Huselius had a goal and three assists Monday night to lead the Columbus Blue Jackets past Edmonton 5-3, adding to the Oilers’ road woes.

Questioned about his team’s road troubles of late, Oilers coach Pat Quinn cracked, “Of late?”

Edmonton is just 1-14-1 away from home since mid-December.

“We haven’t recovered from the loss of certain personnel,” Quinn continued, referring to injuries to front-liners such as Ales Hemsky, Sheldon Souray and Nikolai Khabibulin.

“We have got ourselves in a mentality that we’re poor guys that have had some misfortune that’s happened. We’re not mentally tough enough to play through those things for long periods of time.”

Antoine Vermette had two assists and scored the clinching empty-net goal, and Jake Voracek, Chris Clark and Marc Methot also scored for the Blue Jackets, who totalled only three goals in their previous two games.

Derek Dorsett chipped in with two assists for the first multi-point game of his 91-game NHL career.

It was a wild, wide-open game full of odd-man rushes.

“There were a lot of up and downs,” Huselius said. “We played well for some time, then we lost the momentum and they came back and set the tempo.”

The erratic play wasn’t a surprise since the two teams rank last (Edmonton) and third-to-last (Columbus) in the league in goals allowed.

“Obviously, we like to play a small wide open with pinching in the offensive zone,” said Aaron Johnson, who, along with Robert Nilsson, had a goal and an help for the Oilers. “But there were a couple of times we just got caught out of position.”

Dustin Penner also scored for the Oilers, who have lost four in a row and are just 3-10-1 in their last 14 games.

Clark made it 2-1 at 4:30 of the second when he scored off a quick wrister from near the top of the right circle. It was his third goal since being bought in a trade from Washington in December.

Methot turned a cross-ice pass from Vermette into a 3-1 lead in the opening minute of the third period.

But the rest of the game was in doubt until Vermette’s goal with 55 seconds left.

“At the end of the day, you want to win. It’s a different situation, I won’t lie,” Vermette said of the Blue Jackets, who are also far removed from a playoff run.

“It’s a tough situation to be in — your first time facing that challenge, not being in the playoffs. It’s not fun.”

Andrew Cogliano dug a puck off the small boards and then slid a pass through Huselius’s skates to Penner for his 26th, cutting the lead to 3-2.

After Huselius pushed the lead back to two goals with a breakaway slapshot that handcuffed goalie Devan Dubnyk and then trickled across the goal line, the Oilers cut it to 4-3 when Johnson pounced on a rebound at 7:45 of the third.

There were momentum changes and prime scoring opportunities on both sides the rest of the way until the Blue Jackets took advantage when Dubnyk was pulled for the extra attacker in the final minute.

Steve Mason finished with 29 saves for Columbus, which may not have top defender Jan Hejda the rest of the season. He sustained a lower body injury in the first period and did not return.

“He will be out for a few weeks,” coach Claude Noel said.

Meanwhile, the Oilers are having distress overcoming missing teammates and their own mistakes.

“We do some excellent stuff, but not excellent enough to win,” Quinn said. “At the end of the night, in a game that’s up for grabs, we’ve been in a lot of them, but we don’t grab it.

“We don’t reach out and take it. On a night like tonight, it was our veterans that kind of let it get away from us.”

David Clarkson had a goal and an help as the New Jersey Devils scored three times in the first period against Tim Thomas and held on for a 3-2 victory over the Boston Bruins on Monday night.

Clarkson took the shot that Rob Niedermayer deflected in and then scored on a breakaway, set up by goalie Martin Brodeur, to make it 2-0. Zach Parise finished the barrage that assured the Devils (41-24-3) their 18th straight .500-plus season.

Blake Wheeler scored for the third consecutive game to cut Boston’s deficit to 3-1 at 43 seconds of the middle period, but the eighth-place Bruins failed to stretch their lead at the bottom of the Eastern Conference playoff race. Boston is one point ahead of the New York Rangers but has played one less game.

Patrice Bergeron made it 3-2 with 1:03 left after goalie Tuukka Rask was pulled for an extra skater.

New Jersey bounced back from a disappointing loss at the New York Islanders on Saturday and won its third straight at home. The Devils trail Atlantic Division-leading Pittsburgh by two points and will host the Penguins on Wednesday.

Brodeur made 34 saves for the Devils, 3-0 against Boston this season.

After a sloppy first 10 minutes that featured several turnovers and multiple stoppages, the Devils dominated the final half of the period and stormed to a 3-0 lead.

Niedermayer started it at 9:58 when he tipped in Clarkson’s shot from the slot that was let go as he fell to the ice. Clarkson pushed the advantage to two with 2:47 remaining in the period.

Brodeur fired a long pass from the crease past the red line and onto Clarkson’s stick. Without breaking stride, Clarkson split a pair of defenders and skated in on Thomas. Shifting back and forth, Clarkson settled the puck on his backhand and slid in his eighth goal.

Clarkson, who missed 23 games from Dec. 31-Feb.13 due to a lower body injury, scored for the first time since Nov. 16.

His goal was still being announced when Parise made it 3-0 45 seconds later. Thomas stopped defenceman Mike Mottau’s shot, but couldn’t control the rebound. Parise found the puck in front and backhanded in his 32nd goal. Parise had been pointless in three of four games.

Thomas didn’t make it out for the second period, marking the fifth time this season he has been pulled. The reigning Vezina Trophy winner made only his fifth start in 14 games and dropped his third straight choice (0-2-1). He stopped nine of 12 shots.

It has been a tough season for Thomas, who has lost his starting job to Rask. He also made just one mop-up appearance for the United States at the Vancouver Olympics.

Thomas had 36 wins with a league-best 2.10 goals-against average last season in leading Boston to the top seed in the Eastern Conference. Thomas has only 15 wins with a 2.57 GAA in 40 games this season, a key reason why the Bruins are fighting for a playoff spot with 14 games remaining.

Rask stopped all 16 shots he faced.

Antoine Vermette had two assists and scored the clinching empty-net goal Monday night to lead the Columbus Blue Jackets past Edmonton 5-3, adding to the Oilers’ road woes.

Kristian Huselius added a goal and three assists and Jake Voracek, Chris Clark and Marc Methot also scored for the Blue Jackets, who totalled only three goals in their previous two games.

Derek Dorsett chipped in with two assists for the first multi-point game of his 91-game NHL career.

It was a wild, wide-open game full of odd-man rushes. That wasn’t a surprise since the two teams rank near the bottom of the league in goals allowed.

Robert Nilsson and Aaron Johnson each had a goal and an help and Dustin Penner also scored for the Oilers, who are just 1-14-1 on the road since mid-December.

More to come