The St. Louis Blues finally ended their losing streak and a nightmare run of form against the Utah Hockey Club over the weekend. Their reward was to face the defending conference champion Edmonton Oilers.
St. Louis threatened early, but their best chance of the period was a Justin Faulk blast that rattled off a couple of bodies, off the chest of Brayden Schenn and across the goal line. It became a theme where the Blues got close but didn't do enough to earn it.
Meanwhile, the Oilers were the Oilers. The speed with which they cycle through the zone and hand the puck off with precision was something to see.
They managed 13 shots on goal in the first period. Jordan Binnington was able to turn them all away, thankfully.
Oddly, it felt like the quality of chances was equal between the two teams. The main difference was Edmonton's best looks were actual shots, whereas the Blues kept getting either blocked or put it wide. Their only other grade-A chance was an across-the-grain shot from the left circle that Stuart Skinner was able to get with his left pad/glove.
The Blues needed to be better though. They weren't bad in the first, but three shots and two fewer minutes in the offensive zone than their opponent would not cut it.
The second period almost opened in disaster. Leon Draisaitl sliced through the defense, fed to Connor McDavid who one-touched passed it to Evan Bouchard who slammed one off the post.
The Blues matched their first period totals in just five minutes in the second, but they were also playing a dangerous game. St. Louis had two cracks at some shorthanded chances with rush plays, but almost got caught with their pants down when Ryan Suter was up ice and didn't connect on the pass.
Eventually, the Oilers did score on that power play. McDavid angled himself on the left circle to create a shooting lane through traffic and unleashed a laser into the upper-90 for a 1-0 lead.
St. Louis was creating, but just couldn't convert. Robert Thomas set up a nice look for Pavel Buchnevich that didn't get on net and then Jake Neighbours had a breakaway with about nine minutes left that was denied with a poke check save as he tried to go five-hole.
The Blues continued to play with fire, taking a late period penalty. Thanks to Binnington and some timely clears, they managed to kill it off and go to the third only down by one.
Then St. Louis took a really dumb penalty just a minute in. Cam Fowler took a spill in the corner and swung his stick in an attempt to knock the puck away, but tripped the Edmonton player instead.
The Blues managed to kill it off and not long after, they earned a power play of their own. It was sloppy at first, almost turning the puck over at the blue line a couple times. Nevertheless, Dylan Holloway, who had been good all night, managed to created a big chance and eventually it came to the near post for Jordan Kyrou to tap in to tie it 1-1.
Less than four minutes later, the Blues actually took the lead. Thomas had a great cross-ice feed to Colton Parayko on the left circle. His one-timer gave the Blues a 2-1 score.
It should have/needed to be 3-1 not long after that. St. Louis came in on a rush play with Buchnevich and Thomas. Buch faked the defender out of position and found Thomas on the back side. Thomas proceeded to miss a wide open net.
Moments later, the Blues missed out on another grade-A chance. Alexandre Texier had an unguarded backhander in front, but Skinner barely got a foot to it and it fluttered off the post.
The misses would prove costly. The Oilers pulled the goalie and they found Draisatl with a seam pass and he hammered it home for a 2-2 score. St. Louis would close out the rest and at least earn a point going to overtime.
The OT was eventful, to say the least. Edmonton used their speed, but the Blues defended well initially. Thomas was hauled down when Draisaitl held his stick, but no penalty came.
The Blues went the other way and created some havoc, but it all ended in a glove save by Skinner. McDavid was denied on the doorstep just to get an assist on the eventual game-winner on the next rush down. He found Connor Brown on the left and the scoop shot won it for the Oilers thanks to a non-call by the officials.