PREVIEW: Oilers vs. Blues

The Edmonton Oilers finish off a five-game homestand on Wednesday night with a visit from the St. Louis Blues to Rogers Place.

You can watch the game on Sportsnet at 6:30 p.m. MT or listen live on the Oilers Radio Network, including 630 CHED.

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EDMONTON, AB – From start to finish on Monday night, it took contributions from everyone on the Oilers bench to pick up two valuable points over the Kings in a 4-2 victory at Rogers Place.

When Edmonton wraps up their five-game homestand against St. Louis on Wednesday, it will take another connected and collected effort from all of them versus an opponent that caused them plenty of ‘Missouri’ earlier this month on the road.

“You can't win in this league with two lines and four defencemen,” said Leon Draisaitl, who recorded a goal and assist in the victory over LA. “We need everybody in here and that was a great indicator last night of how we need to play every night, and everyone contributed.

“The PK was massive for us at a really big time in the game, so it was a good game by everyone.”

The Oilers penalty kill provided a big boost for the group during the second period by shutting down a five-on-three with the Kings ahead 2-1, leading to Edmonton’s vaunted power play tying the game on a deflection from Leon Draisaitl in the slot that came off a well-placed shot-pass from up top by Evan Bouchard almost four minutes later.

On LA’s second goal, Bouchard was caught on a failed step-up at the blueline that led to the visitors’ advantage, but the defenceman came up clutch 1:25 into the final frame when he stepped into a one-timer off that went bar-down to give the Oilers their first lead of the night. The marker ended up being his sixth game-winning goal this year, which ties Bouchard with Paul Coffey (1984-85) for the most all-time by an Oilers defenceman in a single season with 26 games still left to go.

The Oakville, Ont. product’s nine slap-shot goals are second in the NHL next to only LA’s Drew Doughty, while his 15 tallies this season are tied with Calgary’s MacKenzie Weegar for the League lead in scoring among defencemen as he tries to chase down Sheldon Souray to become the first Oilers blueliner since 2007-08 to record 20 goals in a season.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins added extra insurance later in the period, getting his skate blade to Connor Brown’s bouncing pass behind the Kings’ defenders, helping put an end to Edmonton’s three-game losing streak and providing them two valuable points in the Pacific Division playoff race.

The helper for Brown was his first point in 11 games, and Mattias Janmark carried forward his strong form with the secondary helper to make it three goals and an assist in his last four games to go along with his penalty-kill impact and steady defensive presence.

“I think he's been doing a lot of good things for us,” Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said on Tuesday. “He's been moving his feet, he's been making some really nice plays on the wall, and obviously, his goals have been coming from around the net… He's been putting himself in good situations and I really like his game.”

Zach Hyman grew his team-leading goal total to 38 in the first period, with Connor McDavid providing the first of two more assists for the Oilers captain in the victory to extend his home point streak to 23 games (10G, 42A) despite his 10-game goalless drought.

In between the pipes, Stuart Skinner stopped 38 of 40 shots, putting in a strong bounce-back performance from Edmonton’s disappointing 6-2 loss to the Flames in the Battle of Alberta on Saturday.

The Oilers are now 9-2-1 in their last 12 games at Rogers Place, outscoring their opponents 49-31 while going 13-for-30 (43.3 percent) on the power play and 31-for-35 (88.6 percent) on the penalty kill.

Monday’s victory was the first time during the month of February that the Oilers allowed less than three goals in a game, and it took a patient approach over the full 60 minutes for the group to come up with an effort they were proud of on both sides of the puck.

“I thought we managed the puck well. I think most chances are come off a turnover or some kind of mishap. I thought we did a good job on that,” Knoblauch said.

“I thought our defence did a really good job denying the line at the blueline. I think we create a lot of turnovers at the blueline to counter-attack, and then, I just think we had everyone in the picture. We weren't spread out wherever the puck was. We had five guys around it, which helps us defend.”

Monday's winning result resonates even more when it comes to keeping the puck out of their own net – an area where Edmonton has struggled over its previous nine games due to a 62.5 percent penalty kill and an average of 4.10 goals against per game, which both rank bottom-three in the League over that time.

“It's pretty black and white,” Draisaitl said. “When we keep the puck out of our net, I think we're really hard to beat. You saw it last night and I think it’s just sticking to it a little longer, sticking with it and not opening it up too early – even if we're down a goal or two. We've seen it a lot this year that if we stick through it and grind through some ups and downs, momentum swings and games, that we'll be alright.”

The Oilers took only two minor penalties in quick succession against the Kings on Monday, resulting in their big five-on-three penalty kill, and the Blue & Orange will look to stay disciplined against a St. Louis team that took advantage of eight power plays the last time these two sides met almost two weeks ago.

The Blues won that matchup 6-3 at Enterprise Center back on Feb. 15, scoring twice with the man advantage and potting four goals in the second period before tensions melted over in the final 20 minutes, including Vincent Desharnais taking two minutes for elbowing and a subsequent 10-minute misconduct for arguing with the official to finish the night with 18 penalty minutes.

Former Edmonton Oil Kings forward Jake Neighbours had a goal and two assists in that middle frame for the Blues and is tied with Dallas' Wyatt Johnston for the most goals (21) from players aged 21 and younger.

The Blues are 4-1-1 in their last 6 road games against the Oilers and have won eight of the past 12 meetings overall.