Edmonton Oilers didn’t succeed in their intention to reach the top of the Western Conference and to defeat the St. Louis Blues. Even though the hosts opened the contest well, they would experience a tough loss in front of their fans, 5-2.
The Blues are not backing down despite all the initial prognosis, which saw them deflating following the Stanley Cup finals last season. The champions are still sharp and look eager to prove that the previous year’s result wasn’t just a lucky shot or a one-time miracle. It is why they kept the same approach as during their postseason run.
Oilers defenseman Oscar Klefbom noticed that, adding that his team isn’t ready yet for something like that.
“This was a playoff game, and obviously we have a long way to go.”
Still, the Oilers were the first to strike, as Connor McDavid opened this match with a power-play goal, firing a strong shot from the left circle, which squeezed under Jake Allen’s pad. The stopwatch said 2:46 since the beginning of the contest.
But the Blues responded with the same measure some three and a half minutes later. Jaden Schwartz changed the trajectory of Alex Pietrangelo’s point shot, and the puck went in. It was also a power-play goal.
The third straight PP goal happened with 7:10 inside the second frame, once Pietrangelo sent a one-timer which ended behind Mike Smith.
Jake Allen was frustrating Oilers fans and the players as he had 12 saves in this period, and 32 during the entire game. On the other end, the Blues’ attack was working perfectly, and Robert Thomas raised the lead to 3-1 with 4:42 left.
Zack Kassian gave some hope for the home team, as he cut the lead to 3-2 at 11:08 in the final sequence. He used Draisaitl’s cross pass to hit the back of St. Louis’ net and to boost the morale of his teammates. The Oilers were attacking and did try to score that one goal to level the game. They had an excellent chance once Brayden Schenn received a minor penalty with two and a half minutes to go. Dave Tippet decided to pull his goalie off the ice and insert another attacker, but that came back at him very badly.
It was Tyler Bozak who destroyed all the hosts’ hopes with an empty-net goal, 59 seconds until the end of the contest. Edmonton didn’t want to surrender, and they did the same thing, leaving their net empty. The punishment was quicky; only this time, it was Ivan Barbashev, who scored at 19:27.
With this victory, the Blues (11-3-3) kept the top spot in the West, and are moving on to Calgary now to face the Flames this Saturday.
Meanwhile, Oilers (10-5-2) have a clash against the NJ Devils this Friday night, before visiting Anaheim and San Jose. For now, the Oilers are still first in the Pacific Division, ahead of Cancks, who have two games fewer, and Coyotes, who also as the franchise from Vancouver, has 15 matches played so far.
