Blues at Oilers
The Edmonton Oilers conclude their four-game homestand Saturday, when they host the St. Louis Blues. Edmonton has gone 1-0-2 over the first three games of the home stretch but could have won all three contests. The Oilers held two-goal leads in the third period against both the Detroit Red Wings and San Jose Sharks before losing in overtime and a shootout, respectively. The lost points may come back to bite the Oilers, who have earned at least one in five straight games (3-0-2) but trail San Jose by three for eighth place in the Western Conference.
St. Louis continues its three-game road trip that began with a 3-2 loss to the Canucks in Vancouver on Tuesday. The Blues trailed 3-0 after two periods before mounting a comeback as rookie Jaden Schwartz and Patrik Berglund scored, but Vancouver held on to hand St. Louis its second setback in seven games. St. Louis also took advantage of Edmonton's inability to hold on to a two-goal lead, scoring four unanswered goals en route to a 4-2 home victory on March 1.
TV: 10 p.m. ET, FSN Midwest (St. Louis), RDS2, CBC (Edmonton)
ABOUT THE BLUES (16-11-2): Jaroslav Halak is likely to start in goal as he owns a 6-1-1 career record and a 2.00 goals-against average against the Oilers. St. Louis has had very little trouble scoring against Edmonton lately. The Blues have netted at least one goal in 19 of the last 25 periods played between the clubs and tallied a total of 16 times in the third session. Alex Steen is two assists shy of 100 as a member of the Blues, while Alex Pietrangelo's next goal will tie him with Eric Brewer (30) for 11th place among club defensemen.
ABOUT THE OILERS (11-11-7): Nikolai Khabibulin could get the call Saturday as Devan Dubnyk has started each of Edmonton's last 11 games. In addition, Dubnyk is 0-7-0 lifetime against St. Louis with a 4.72 GAA. Conversely, Khabibulin is 21-16-4 with a 2.75 GAA versus the Blues. Khabibulin has not played since going down with a groin injury in late February. "We'll take a look at it," coach Ralph Krueger told the Edmonton Journal. "Nikolai is close to 100 percent." Center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins missed Wednesday's game due to the flu and is questionable for Saturday.
OVERTIME
1. St. Louis has won four straight meetings between the teams and 10 of the last 12 (10-1-1).
2. The home team has won five of the last six games in the all-time series.
3. The Oilers and Blues meet again in St. Louis on Tuesday.
PREDICTION: Blues 4, Oilers 3