GAME RECAP: Blues 6, Oilers 3

ST. LOUIS, MO – Connor McDavid had three assists and Corey Perry delivered a spark-plug performance with his first Oilers goal, a disallowed tally and a fight, but sustained penalty trouble in the final two periods contributed to the St. Louis Blues scoring three power-play goals in a 6-3 win at Enterprise Center on Thursday night.

After taking a 2-1 lead through 20 minutes on the back of goals from Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, the Oilers would run into further penalty trouble over the final 40 minutes with seven straight infractions – including successive elbowing and unsportsmanlike conduct calls on Vincent Desharnais – that ended up sinking the Blue & Orange to their third defeat in five games since the All-Star Break.

Netminder Jordan Binnington was critical to St. Louis' victory with 35 saves along with former Oil Kings forward Jake Neighbours, who recorded a goal and two assists, while Stuart Skinner was beaten five times on 29 shots to take the loss.

The Oilers head to Dallas for a matinée meeting with the Stars on Saturday at American Airlines Center.

FIRST PERIOD

Simply put, Binnington was the reason why the Oilers weren't ahead by a handful through 20 minutes.

"He played well obviously, but that wasn't the main reason we lost," Hyman added. "I think a lot of self-inflicted errors; a lot of things we can clean up."

The Blues' netminder posted a 2-1-0 record, a .935 save percentage and a 1.57 goals-against average against Edmonton last campaign and was looking poised to put in another big night against the Blue & Orange early in the frame.

Binnington was let off early in the game by the officials when Evan Bouchard's would-be 13th goal of the season was taken back after Corey Perry caught a piece of him in the crease on his way through. When you operate the way Corey Perry does, those types of plays just come with the territory of being a hard-nosed, net-front presence.

The taken-back tally proved important when St. Louis got on the board first, getting a lucky bounce off the skate blade of Vincent Desharnais at the 9:47 mark of the opening period on a net-front pass that fell kindly to the waiting stick of Robert Thomas at the back door to make it 1-0.

The Oilers had the extra benefit of having three power plays in the first period, cashing in on one to tie the game three-and-a-half minutes when Connor McDavid made a quick pass to Leon Draisaitl in the right circle for a one-timer. Evan Bouchard had his initial shot blocked, but the captain reacted the fastest to throw it across to his German teammate to deliver into the back of the net to make it 1-1.

The Oilers kept putting the pressure on the Blues and would finish the period with a 14-8 shot advantage. Two of those shots came when Hyman was flat-out denied twice by Binnington, making a terrific glove save on the winger before he stretched out the right pad a minute later to take away what looked like a certain goal for Edmonton's leading scorer.

Hyman, however, would have a helping hand in the Oilers taking a 2-1 lead into the first intermission by poking the puck to Nugent-Hopkins during a goalmouth scramble.

The third-most tenured Edmonton player in franchise history alongside Mark Messier buried Hyman's chipped pass for his 15th goal of the season with 27 seconds left, marking his 851st NHL game by finding the scoresheet for the second straight game to give the Oilers a lead after 20 minutes.

"I think we managed the puck well," Knoblauch said of his team's first-period performance. "I thought we moved it, made some really good plays and didn't just give it away. We were composed and I think there were maybe a couple of shifts that weren't up to our standards, the one that got scored against, but other than that, I liked how we're just keeping our game simple, getting in on the forecheck and then spending some time in the offensive zone, because that's where we're playing our best."

SECOND PERIOD

For all the positivity the Oilers had generated in the first period, all that was undone over a four-goal middle frame from the Blues.

Edmonton had an offensive explosion in the third period of their 8-4 win over Detroit on Tuesday, but they found themselves on the other end of it in St. Louis tonight after giving up two even-strength goals and two power-play tallies to trail 5-2 through 40 minutes.

Former Oil Kings forward Jake Neighbours started the scoring streak for St. Louis when he sniped his turn-around shot bar down on Stuart Skinner just 1:07 after the puck dropped on the period. The former WHL standout would finish with a goal and two assists and has 19 goals this year, while only contributing seven assists.

Torey Krug gave St. Louis the lead seven-and-a-half minutes later, sliding one under Skinner after Edmonton's netminder was pulled out of position from Neighbours causing trouble around his crease.

The Oilers faced their first deficit of the game and would ultimately regret playing undisciplined, leading to two power-play goals from Jordan Kyrou and Pavel Buchnevich in the final five minutes of the period.

"It makes it really hard when you take that many penalties," said Derek Ryan, one of Edmonton's principal penalty-killers. "It gets you out of a rhythm. Obviously, our PK has been struggling a little bit too, so it's hard when you keep putting us back out there again and again."

"It's been a tough three games [on the penalty kill]. That's a pretty small sample size. We've been really good for a long time and maybe haven't been getting the bounces, and haven't been as structured as we were before. But it's a confident group. We know we can kill penalties."

THIRD PERIOD

Frustration, unfortunately, set in on the Oilers bench.

Perry scored his first Oilers goal in the final frame, creating space in front of St. Louis, crease for himself and tucking in the rebound off Brett Kulak's shot with 8:46 left in regulation to give Edmonton a spark in the final frame. Before the second intermission, Perry tried to get his teammates going with a scrap against Marco Scandella.

"That's where you score the goals – in front of the net," Hyman said. "So he's been doing it for a long time. He knows where to go. He scores in the playoffs because that's where all the goals are scored there. And just a great player for us and he gave us a spark there."

"I think Corey's great for our group," Knoblauch added. "He brings guys into the fight and it's little things that are important. And whether that's getting into a little scrum at the end of the second period to try and change the momentum of the game or going to the net and creating some chaos... I think his game is very important for us – especially when so many games are going to be decided with one goal."

But penalties kept the Oilers from mounting any meaningful comeback in the final 20 minutes. Edmonton's players and coaches weren't happy with some of the penalties being called against them over the entire game, but in the final frame is where things hit a breaking point.

Vincent Desharnais was called for a soft elbow with Edmonton already being tasked with killing off a slashing call to Cody Ceci, and the 6-foot-7 blueliner vehemently voiced his displeasure to the official and earned himself a double-minor for unsportsmanlike conduct, which ended up being the seventh straight call against them.

"We were very frustrated with the calls that went against us, and it put us in a difficult position to win the game – especially when you're behind or we're needing goals," Knoblauch said. "And as a team, we have to put it aside that no matter how much we disagree with a call, and there's been a lot of calls that our team has disagreed with, but we just have to put it aside and play hockey."

When all was said and done following Brandon Saad's empty-net goal with 2:53 left, St. Louis finished the night 2-for-8 with the man advantage.