Preview: Oilers at Blues

[February 28, 2017]  The St. Louis Blues' struggles on offense followed them over their league-mandated break, as the club has scored just five goals during its three-game losing skid after mustering 20 during its six-game winning streak. The Blues will need to rediscover their offense and tighten their defense in Tuesday's home tilt versus Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers on the heels of trading blue-liner Kevin Shattenkirk to Washington.

"Sometimes that's how it goes. You get your looks, they don't go in. Still, we have to find a way to close that up," captain Alex Pietrangelo told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch after Sunday's 4-2 setback to Chicago left the club clinging to the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference. Offense hasn't been an issue for McDavid, who scored and added his NHL-best 50th assist in Sunday's 5-4 loss to Nashville to give him 11 of his league-leading total to 71 points in his last eight games. The 20-year-old phenom hasn't spared the offense versus St. Louis, collecting a goal and an assist in Edmonton's 3-1 win on Oct. 20 before setting up Ryan Nugent-Hopkins' overtime tally in a 3-2 victory on Dec. 19. While the Oilers have dropped three of four to fall to 2-3-0 on their six-game road trip, St. Louis is making a brief pit stop at Scottrade Center before opening a three-game trek against Central Division adversaries.

TV: 8 p.m. ET, Sportsnet West (Edmonton), FSN Midwest (St. Louis), NHL.TV

ABOUT THE OILERS (33-22-8): Potential trade commodity Jordan Eberle is doing his best to distance himself from a disastrous eight-game point drought, scoring a goal versus the Predators to give him two tallies and three assists in his last six contests. The former first-round pick has been rumored to be a primary trade target of the New York Islanders while Edmonton reportedly is looking for a veteran center to help end their consistent troubles on faceoffs (NHL-worst 46.8 percent). Leon Draisailt lost 12 of 15 draws on Sunday and the rest of the Oilers didn't fare much better, winning just 23 of 66 attempts in the circle.

ABOUT THE BLUES (31-25-5): General manager Doug Armstrong finally was able to trade Shattenkirk (team-leading 31 assists) after the 28-year-old reportedly rebuffed a sign-and-trade deal with Edmonton in the offseason as well as a potential swap with Tampa Bay earlier this month, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. On Monday, Shattenkirk was sent to Washington along with goaltender Pheonix Copley for a 2017 first-round pick, a conditional second-round pick, rookie forward Zach Sanford and journeyman forward Brad Malone. Sanford, 22, collected two goals and one assist in 26 games this season with the Capitals while Malone, 27, has 20 points (seven goals, 13 assists) with Hershey of the American Hockey League in 2016-17.

OVERTIME

1. St. Louis RW Vladimir Tarasenko (team-leading 28 goals, 56 points) has been held off the scoresheet in back-to-back contests after recording 10 points (eight goals, two assists) in his previous 11 games.

2. Edmonton G Cam Talbot surrendered all five goals on Sunday after permitting 11 in his previous five games (4-1-0).

3. Blues RW Jaden Schwartz has just one goal in his last 15 games, and it was into an empty net.

PREDICTION: Oilers 4, Blues 2

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