Oilers 6, Blues 4
EDMONTON, Alberta -- The St. Louis Blues were on a six-game winning streak, charging to the top of the Western Conference standings, and with games against the sad-sack Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers on tap.
Two easy wins, right? Wrong.
After losing by three goals to the Flames on Monday, the Blues fell behind by three goals after two periods Wednesday and wound up losing 6-4 to the Oilers.
For a St. Louis team that was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs in each of the previous three seasons, the sudden March swoon is troubling.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Mark Letestu each scored twice for the Oilers, and Edmonton scored four power-play goals on the night.
The Blues made it interesting in the third period.
Patrik Berglund scored on the power play 58 seconds into the third. At 5:48, David Backes got his second of the night as he converted a cross-ice pass from Alex Pietrangelo.
The momentum was killed, though, when Troy Brouwer took a five-minute major for boarding Oilers center Matt Hendricks. Letestu added an empty-netter with 17 seconds left.
Edmonton goalie Cam Talbot made 24 saves in the win. St. Louis' Jake Allen stopped 21 of the 26 shots he faced.
At the eight-minute mark of the first period, the Oilers took the lead thanks to a power-play marker from Nugent-Hopkins, but it all came about thanks to the quick thinking and quick hands from Patrick Maroon. The big winger collected a rebound off the pads of Allen before the netminder could react. Maroon quickly sent the puck into the slot to Nugent-Hopkins, who was in prime shooting position.
At 13:32, Taylor Hall doubled the lead when he roofed the puck after collecting the rebound off a shot from Iiro Pakarinen.
The Blues got one back at 14:17, thanks to a wrist shot from Backes.
The game was halted for a few minutes early in the second when referee Dave Jackson was the unintended victim of a check that sent Letestu sliding into the boards. A sliding Letestu knocked over the referee. Jackson required treatment but stayed in the game.
Jackson got a good view of the Blues' tying goal exactly six minutes into the second. Jaden Schwartz tipped a point shot from Joel Edmundson past Talbot.
However, the Oilers took control with their second, third and fourth power-play goals of the night. At 7:42, Letestu found the puck in front of the net and fired it in for a 3-2 advantage. Leon Draisaitl scored at 15:05, just seconds after he had a goal washed out due to a coach's challenge. Nugent-Hopkins got his second goal at 18:09 with a bad-angle shot that beat Allen to make it 5-2.
NOTES: Oilers D Darnell Nurse returned to the lineup after serving a three-game suspension for being the aggressor in a fight in a game against San Jose. ... The Oilers played their 74th game Wednesday, and have now amassed 311 man-games lost to injury. That's an average more than four players missing per game. ... Blues D Kevin Shattenkirk reached the 400-games-played milestone. ... Blues D Carl Gunnarsson was out with a lower-body injury sustained in Monday's loss to Calgary. RW Ryan Reaves was scratched. ... Oilers D Adam Pardy missed his third straight game due to an undisclosed injury. ... The Oilers scratched C Anton Lander, LW Luke Gazdic, D Nikita Nikitin and RW Adam Cracknell.