Allen, Blues shut down Oilers, sweep four-game homestand

ST. LOUIS -- Jake Allen made 35 saves, and the St. Louis Blues defeated the Edmonton Oilers 2-1 at Enterprise Center on Wednesday to sweep a four-game homestand.

Brayden Schenn and Mackenzie MacEachern scored for St. Louis (22-8-6), which is 8-3-0 in the past 11 games.
"I thought we played a real solid game, 60 minutes," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "Power play, we could have got a goal or two on the PP, it makes a big difference. We had 12 shots. Their goalie was really good."
WATCH: [All Oilers vs. Blues highlights]
Mikko Koskinen made 42 saves for the Oilers (19-14-4), who are 1-4-1 in their past six games.
"Koskinen was excellent," Oilers coach Dave Tippett said. "Kept us in the game, so a little disappointing we couldn't find a way to manufacture a little more offense."
Schenn scored on a breakaway at 8:04 of the second period to give St. Louis a 1-0 lead. He took a stretch pass from Vince Dunn before beating Koskinen high glove side with a wrist shot.
"I kind of got caught behind the net and their d-man went for a change," Schenn said. "[Jordan] Kyrou and [Jaden Schwartz] tracked back hard and Dunner made a good play to get it up to me quick."
MacEachern made it 2-0 at 6:23 of the third period when Ryan O'Reilly was able to pull up behind the net and feed MacEachern in front.

James Neal scored with 1:50 remaining with a sixth attacker on to cut it to 2-1. He was able to curl around the net and collect a loose puck and whip it into an empty net from a sharp angle.
"We had some good opportunities but we didn't find the net until late," Oilers defenseman Adam Larsson said. "It's kind of the story of the game."
The Blues challenged for goaltender interference, claiming Zack Kassian interfered with Allen, but the call was confirmed on video review.
"We gave it a try," Allen said. "I think it was a 2-0 game, and honestly, 6-on-4 is a lot easier than 6-on-5. I sort of like the 6-on-4 better. You don't have to worry about the icings, it gives the other team more time and space to think. When you think you usually take plays a little bit for granted and it's easier for us because we can just stay in our structure, our PK structure. On the 6-on-5, you get a little running around."

They said it

"He was really solid for us the whole 60 [minutes]. A lot of penalty trouble and he made some massive saves on the PK to keep us in it. We were right in there until the very end, and we couldn't find one at the very end." -- Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on goalie Mikko Koskinen
"He was a machine. He was playing the puck great. He was a rock back there tonight. It just gives us a ton of confidence." -- Blues defenseman Robert Bortuzzo on goalie Jake Allen

Need to know

The Oilers were 0-for-4 with the man-advantage to end their eight-game streak with at least one power-play goal; they had been 10-for-30 (33 percent). ... Kassian had an assist in in his 500th NHL game. ... Oilers center Leon Draisaitl had an assist to extend his point streak to five games (two goals, three assists). ... Blues forward Tyler Bozak was a late scratch due to illness and was replaced by Troy Brouwer, who played 6:46 after being a healthy scratch the past two games. ... Schenn has 19 points (seven goals, 12 assists) in 17 games against the Oilers. He needs one point for 400 in the NHL. ... Blues defenseman Justin Faulk had nine of St. Louis' season-high 44 shots. ... Blues forward David Perron has six points (four goals, two assists) in his past six games. … The Blues have 50 points in 36 games. Only the 2000-01 team (31) and 2013-14 team (34) needed fewer games to reach 50 points.

What's next

Oilers:Host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday (9 p.m. ET; ESPN+, SNE, SNO, SNP, TVAS, ATTSN-PT, NHL.TV)
Blues:At the San Jose Sharks on Saturday (10:30 p.m. ET; NBCSCA, FS-MW, NHL.TV)