Oilers at Blues
No knock on the Edmonton Oilers, who will pay a visit to St. Louis on Friday night, but fans of the Blues may be more preoccupied with what transpires at the team's practice session earlier that day. Future Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur, the winningest goaltender in NHL history, will begin a weeklong tryout session with St. Louis on Friday. The Blues reached out to Brodeur after starting netminder Brian Elliott suffered an injury to his right knee in Tuesday's game and has been listed as "week-to-week."
Elliott is in the midst of a stellar campaign, posting an 8-4-1 mark while leading the league in goals-against average (1.82) and ranking third in save percentage (.931). "Our goalies have been leading this hockey team," Blues center T.J. Oshie said. "To lose 'Ells', a guy that is a very honest, hard-working player, it’s tough but he’s going to battle and be back.” Edmonton has lost eight in a row overall (0-7-1) and remains in search of its first win over a Western Conference opponent (0-12-1).
TV: 8 p.m. ET, RSW (Edmonton), FSN Midwest (St. Louis)
ABOUT THE OILERS (6-14-3): Edmonton dominated play at Central Division-leading Nashville on Thursday night but came away with its second shutout loss in four games - a span in which it has scored three times. Jordan Eberle had a penalty shot denied in overtime and the Oilers failed on four power-play chances in the 1-0 setback to fall to 2-for-30 on the road with the man advantage. Edmonton now must figure a way to solve an opponent that has dominated the series - St. Louis has won 14 of the last 17 matchups and outscored the Oilers 17-4 in sweeping all three meetings last season.
ABOUT THE BLUES (14-6-2): The 42-year-old Brodeur, who needs 12 victories to reach 700 for his career, went 19-14-6 last season to close out an illustrious career with New Jersey that included three Stanley Cup championships. With the Devils committed to Cory Schneider as their No. 1 netminder, Brodeur has been a free agent waiting for a chance to get back in the game. “It’s a great opportunity. It’s a great hockey team with a coach (Ken Hitchcock) that I know real well," Brodeur said. “I want to make sure I’m going to enjoy this. They want to see if I’m OK, too. So, it’s kind of a mutual thing that we have to spend the next four days kind of looking at each other.”
OVERTIME
1. Blues G Jake Allen was pulled after allowing three goals on seven shots in his lone start versus Edmonton in March 2013.
2. Oilers F Matt Hendricks exited Thursday's game in the first period after taking a shot off the foot and did not return.
3. St. Louis called up G Jordan Binnington from the Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League to back up Allen.