After ending their six-game homestand on a tough note, the Edmonton Oilers will look to bounce back on the road when they face the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday.
Edmonton lost the first game of their homestand, but then won three straight. However, they struggled in their last two games, losing 3-2 to Detroit in a shootout and falling 4-3 to Toronto on Saturday.
The Maple Leafs were up 3-0 midway through the second period, and Edmonton couldn’t complete their comeback despite scoring twice in the third to pull within a goal. The Oilers outshot Toronto 48-28, but still came up short.
“It was just one of those nights,” said Edmonton forward Corey Perry. “We might have been overzealous to get playing and it shuts our brains off. Those are just little things. You change those in the course of the game, and it can come back and haunt you.
“A couple turnovers led to penalties against and then their power play went to work. If we eliminate those turnovers, I think we would have had a better start. We played with the puck quite a bit tonight.”
The Oilers’ strong offense, averaging 3.29 goals per game, ranked sixth in the league heading into Monday.
“Once we started keeping it simple and getting on them, playing five-on-five, we were good, we were all over them,” said defenseman Evan Bouchard, who scored a goal in the loss, along with Perry and Zach Hyman.
The Blues are starting a stretch of six straight home games, with three of those before the 4 Nations Face-Off begins on February 12. They’ve struggled at home, with a record of 11-13-1 on their own ice.
Before beating the Utah Hockey Club 2-1 in Salt Lake City on Sunday, St. Louis had lost four straight by a combined score of 16-4.
Blues coach Jim Montgomery responded to the team’s struggles by putting winger Jordan Kyrou back with center Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich on the top forward line against Utah. The trio generated nine shots on goal, and Kyrou scored the game-winner.
“All the way from the start, all the way to the end, we played hard, we played aggressive, we played fast, we played with the puck,” said Kyrou. “We weren’t just throwing it away.”
Thomas is the Blues’ top playmaker, and Kyrou is the team’s primary shooter, so their chemistry was quickly restored.
“It’s kind of just old chemistry,” Kyrou said. “I kind of know when he’s looking, where he’s looking, so I just try to jump in those holes.”
The Oilers won the last matchup between these teams 4-2 on December 7 in Edmonton. Connor McDavid scored a goal and added an assist, while Leon Draisaitl had two assists for the Oilers.
Edmonton’s Stuart Skinner made 29 saves to get the win, while Jordan Binnington allowed four goals on 21 shots for St. Louis.
The Oilers’ defense should get a boost on Tuesday with Mattias Ekholm returning to the blue line after missing Saturday’s game due to illness.
