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 It marks the eighth straight time the Blues beat the Oilers, a
streak that dates back to Dec. 21, 2013. In that span, the Blues
outscored the Oilers 34-13.
The win over the Oilers came two days after the Blues beat the
Flames 4-3 in Calgary. And Blues coach Ken Hitchcock, an Edmonton
native, said Alberta games don't feel like other road trips.
"We like playing here, we like playing in Western Canada ... We play
well out west and we look forward to coming out here," he said.
Right winger Vladimir Tarasenko broke a 1-1 tie when he ripped a
shot past Oilers goalie Cam Talbot with 3:59 left in the second
period. Center Jori Lehtera's clean face-off win saw the puck come
to defenseman Jay Bouwmeester, who cushioned the puck so Tarasenko
could unwind the slap shot. It was Tarasenko's third goal of the
season.
Oilers coach Todd McLellan said that second Blues goal put his young
team into a funk, admitting his team may not yet be at the level
where it can deal with an emotional punch like Tarasenko delivered.
"Those are minutes we can't waste," McLellan said. "We're not strong
enough yet as a team to waste minutes. I won't say feeling sorry for
ourselves, but getting down and kind of getting frustrated. So we as
a staff have to make sure we're steady on the rudder, doing the
things we need to do and get our power play going. That will be a
focal point of practice tomorrow."
The Oilers went 0-for-five with the man advantage.
Centre Paul Stastny was in the right place at the right time to give
the Blues their third goal. With the Blues on a third-period power
play, left winger Alexander Steen's pass banked off Stastny and into
the Oilers' net.
Oilers left winger Taylor Hall cut the Blues' lead to one with a
little more than 13 minutes left in the final period. But it was as
close as the home team would come, and Edmonton recorded its fourth
straight loss to start the season.
Steen scored with 2:09 left to seal the Oilers' fate.
Steen said his team pays no attention to its winning streak against
the Oilers.
"That's something you guys (the media) thinks about," he said. "For
us, it's a new year and we've had two hard-fought battles against
them, both home and here in Edmonton."
The Blues beat the Oilers 3-1 in St. Louis last Thursday.
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"I thought, with the emotion they came out with in the first period,
we were a little bit more on our heels than we'd like to be, but I
like the fact that we've gotten down early in games and not really
reacted to it," Steen said. "We've just stayed the course and come
back against whatever team we've been facing. Tonight was no
different."
The Oilers took the lead just 1:36 into the game, raising the hopes
of a full house at Rexall Place.
Right winger Teddy Purcell dumped the puck into the Blues zone, and
it took a wild bounce off the end boards, coming back right in front
of the Blues' net. Left winger Lauri Korpikoski pounced on the puck
and put it through the legs of Blues goalie Brian Elliott.
But the Blues got it back less than two minutes later. Right winger
Troy Brouwer's shot was stopped by Talbot, but the rebound fell to
Lehtera, who swatted the bouncing puck into the net for his first
goal of the season.
There was a moment of first-period panic when Edmonton center Connor
McDavid, the first-round pick of the 2015 draft, crumpled to the ice
after being hacked by Bouwmeester. But McDavid shook it off and
continued.
NOTES: The Oilers debuted their new orange third jerseys, a
throwback to their WHA roots. ... The Oilers are now 19-12-5 in home
openers. ... Oilers RW Jordan Eberle missed his fourth straight
regular-season game. He injured his shoulder in a Sept. 29
pre-season game against Arizona. ... Blues rookie C Robby Fabri, who
scored the game winner against Edmonton last Thursday in St. Louis,
missed his second straight game with a concussion. Blues D Kevin
Shattenkirk missed the game with a lower-body injury sustained
Tuesday in Calgary. ... The Oilers scratched D Brandon Davidson, D
Andrew Ference and LW Rob Klinkhammer. ... The Blues scratched C
Scott Gomez and D Chris Butler.
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