– Photo By Ryan Leopando / Arch City Sports
The St. Louis Blues needed a win Friday night, one game after losing in a shootout to the Ottawa Senators. The Note welcomed the Edmonton Oilers to Scottrade for Western Conference matchup that featured a dynamic Blues team and a dwindling Oilers squad, who currently sit dead last in the conference.
The scoring got started in transition when Vladimir Tarasenko dropped a nice touch-pass to T.J. Oshie. Oshie blasted a slap shot from the high slot to beat Oilers goalie Ben Scrivens.
The Blues carried a 1-0 lead into the first intermission. The most notable stat from the first frame was the shots on goal. St. Louis led in that category 15-3 through one.
The Oilers came out for the second period playing with a little more fire. Two former Blues got the offense going for Edmonton. First, a wrist shot by David Perron that beat Jake Allen low to the glove side. Then, former Blues’ draft pick Nikita Nikitin gave the Oilers a 2-1 lead when he wristed a nice pass from Taylor Hall by Allen.
31 seconds into the third period, Kevin Shattenkirk knotted things up with a wrist shot from the point. T.J. Oshie was credited with an assist on the play.
Shortly after the Blues tied the game, the nice passing of Taylor Hall struck again. Hall waited patiently along the boards and found a streaking Mark Arcobello for an easy goal, giving Edmonton the 3-2 lead.
St. Louis wouldn’t stay down for long. Alex Pietrangelo carried the puck up ice and ripped a wrist shot off the blocker of Ben Scrivens. T.J. Oshie grabbed the rebound and quickly fed a slicing Pietrangelo who wouldn’t be denied again. The Blues tied it up for the second time in the third period.
Regulation ended with the score tied at three.
Overtime was short and sweet if you’re a Blues fan. Less than two minutes into the overtime period, Mark Fayne was called for a tripping minor against Jori Lehtera. The Blues had a few good chances on the power play to score, but couldn’t seal the deal. Shortly after Fayne’s penalty ended, Vladimir Tarasenko delivered another highlight reel goal. Tarasenko shook a defender at the blue-line, went hard towards the net, then ripped a wrist shot by Scrivens to end the game and give the Blues the victory.
Jake Allen didn’t have the game the Blues will need from him with Brian Elliott out of the lineup. Edmonton only had 16 shots on goal, and three found the net. The Blues tallied 41 shots on net in the game.
Game Notes
Ken Hitchcock ties Mike Keenan at sixth all-time in wins at 672.
T.J. Oshie’s three points tonight ties what he has done to this point in the season.
Tonight’s game is the ninth in a row in which the Edmonton Oilers haven’t left the rink with a win. They fall to 6-14-4 and remain in last place in the Western Conference. The Blues improve to 15-6-2, and join the Nashville Predators atop the Central with 32 points. The Blues hit the road Saturday night for the first of a four game road trip when they take on the Minnesota Wild. That game can be seen at 7 PM CST on FS-MW or heard on KMOX 1120.
