GAME RECAP: Blues 4, Oilers 2

ST. LOUIS, MO - Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl registered a point each to be the first two players to 50 points in the 2021-22 National Hockey League season but the Oilers were doubled up by a score of 4-2 against the St. Louis Blues Wednesday at Enterprise Center.
Goaltender Mike Smith steered aside 29 of 33 shots on goal in his first game back since Oct. 19, Draisaitl notched his League-leading 24th goal and Evan Bouchard chipped in with his sixth tally as the Oilers record falls to 18-12-0 on the season and 8-6-0 on the road.

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FIRST BLOOD

Two-on-Oh … no.
After Evan Bouchard had his point shot from the offensive blueline blocked and Dmitri Samorukov tried to challenge the Blues' ensuing odd-man rush, a 2-on-0 developed between Blues forwards Vladimir Tarasenko and Robert Thomas.
The two orchestrated a give-and-go ahead of Smith's crease, allowing Thomas to cap the play with a tap-in for his third goal of the season at 4:03 of the first period.

PLAY OF THE GAME

Clink.
Draisaitl's 24th of the campaign at 7:31 of the opening frame was the Oilers play of the game as the German piped the post to hear iron echo at Enterprise Center.
Upon encroaching the Blues' zone and button-hooking along the boards, Draisaitl surveyed the canvass without finding an open passing seam. The sniper then took the room available to him, cutting inside and rifling the puck from right down Main St. for his 50th point.

SAVE OF THE GAME

Smith was peppered in his return to game action after a two-month layoff but made his best save of the night early in the second period off a defensive zone turnover.
Blues centre Klim Kostin reaped the benefit of the interception, seeing the puck land on his blade ahead of the Oilers crease, only to have his shot discarded by Smith's desperation save.
As for St. Louis' Jordan Binnington, the guardian made an incredible stop on Warren Foegele in the third period to keep Edmonton at bay when the visitors were on the hunt to evaporate their second two-goal deficit of the evening.
A point shot popped out to Draisaitl at the side of the net and he sent it across the blue paint to Foegele with the cage yawning. The forward fluttered a shot on net but Binnington slid across while spinning and showcased his hand-eye coordination by catching the airborne puck with his trapper.

TURNING POINT

All tied up at 2-2 after the Oilers overcame a two-goal deficit with replies from Draisaitl and Bouchard, Tarasenko put the Blues back in the driver's seat with some slick stickhandling late in the second period.
Jordan Kyrou received a pass within the offensive zone then waited until a seam opened up for Tarasenko as he travelled to the cage. Kyrou's pass found Tarasenko's blade and the Russian had enough space to make a nice move in-tight for his 13th of the season and third point of the night.

TOP PERFORMER

While Tarasenko earned the honour on St. Louis' side with the game-winning goal and three-point performance, Smith deserves the accolade for the Oilers. The net-protector battled in his first instance of action since Oct. 19, by making 29 saves while providing some fire and emotion from the blue paint.

PARTING WORDS

Head Coach Dave Tippett on what cost the Oilers the game:
"We made a couple of mistakes early, got behind early and chased the game. We were around a little bit but turned over a lot of pucks and ended up chasing. When you've been off for 11 days, that's not an ideal situation."
Coach Tippett on Smith's performance:
"He was good in the net and out of the net, and moved the puck very well. We hung him out to dry on a couple of those odd-number breaks that he didn't have any chance on. It's good for him to get back in there and get going."
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on the Oilers effort coming out of the break:
"I thought we did some things right but overall, we just gave them too many good opportunities. Smitty had to make some big saves and to give them that many odd-man rushes and to let guys come down on a 2-on-0 or 2-on-1 or get breakaways, good teams like that are going to make you pay."

Nugent-Hopkins on what the Oilers can take from the defeat:
"You get on a road trip like this, simplicity goes a long way. Even throughout individual games, I thought we were doing it at times: putting pucks behind them and getting the forecheck going. We just didn't do it often enough. It's got to be something ingrained in us that we're going to do every shift. That's how you build a forecheck and that's how you build a team game. Tonight, that wasn't there for us."
Evan Bouchard's assessment of the game:
"Just way too many turnovers and they ended up putting them in the back of the net. We just got to limit our turnovers. It's correctable. We just have to play with confidence and limit those turnovers. We'll be fine if we do that."