Connor McDavid had a goal and an assist and Leon Draisaitl had two helpers as the Edmonton Oilers won their second game in a row, defeating the St. Louis Blues 4-2 on Saturday.
“Special teams have been much better lately, especially at home and now we’re winning,” Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said after the game. “And tonight, we go for one for one on the power play — they do get one — but we didn’t lose that battle.”
Corey Perry, Zach Hyman and Troy Stecher also scored for the Oilers (15-10-2) who have won five of their last six outings.
“I think we’re playing the way we want to play,” Perry said after the game. “We’re playing with the puck, we’re playing north and we’re getting great defensive help from our goalies; from our defence all the way out — so it’s been a team effort.”
Dylan Holloway and Jake Neighbours responded for the Blues (13-13-2) who had a two-game winning streak halted and suffered their first regulation loss under new head coach Jim Montgomery, dropping to 4-1-1 in his brief tenure.
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Stuart Skinner made 29 stops in net for the Oilers, while Jordan Binnington recorded 17 saves between the pipes for the Blues.
“I thought that we pushed the pace,” Skinner said. “A lot of sacrifice blocks out there which really helped my game. For myself, personally, I thought I was pretty solid. Could have helped out a little bit in some areas, but I thought for the most part it was a solid team effort.”
TAKEAWAYS
Blues: All eyes in Edmonton were on Blues defenceman Philip Broberg and forward Holloway who were both poached away from the Oilers as restricted free-agent signings in the off-season. The cap-strapped Oilers were unable to match the offer sheets to the pair of young first-round draft picks. Both have already had career-high campaigns in goals, assists and points for the Blues this season with Broberg coming into the contest with 12 points in just 15 games and Holloway posting 16 points. Both were also tied for the team lead at plus-seven.
Oilers: After an awfully slow start by his standards with only 10 points in his first 11 games, McDavid has caught fire since early November. McDavid, who became the 99th player in NHL history to hit the 1,000-point mark for his career on Nov. 19, has now recorded 27 points in his last 13 games. His second period assist was also his 123rd of the 2024 calendar year (including playoffs) matching Mario Lemieux’s highest total of his career in 1992. Only Wayne Gretzky has had more assists in a calendar year.
KEY MOMENT
The Oilers took a two-goal lead five minutes into the middle frame as a clearing attempt by Broberg caromed off a teammate into the slot to the worst possible opponent as McDavid picked it up and sent it through Binnington’s legs for his 13th goal of the season. It was McDavid’s 29th career unassisted goal.
KEY STAT
Hyman has doubled his seasonal goal total in his last two games. The 32-year-old Toronto native, who made a big leap forward last season with a career-high 54 goals, had a slow start to this year with just three goals in his first 20 games. However, after missing five games with injury, Hyman has recorded three goals in his last two games back to give him six on the season.
UP NEXT
Blues: Close out a four-game road trip in Vancouver against the Canucks on Tuesday.
Oilers: Remain home to host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday.
© 2024 The Canadian Press
