The Edmonton Oilers, fresh off a 3–2 overtime win against the Chicago Blackhawks, traveled to the home of the Hawks’ biggest rivals, the St. Louis Blues, last night. It was a Friends theme night, ironically given the recent offer-sheet history of the two teams. In keeping with the late-90s/early-2000’s vibe, the Oilers got to see the familiar double-blue sweaters that are now merely alternates in the St. Lou’ lineup.
Intricacies aside, the Oilers needed a win here in the worst way. Their road record has been dismal to start the season, and kept them from being truly elite. Additionally, the Blues have had a disastrous start, and the Oilers couldn’t afford to be the get-right opponent.
In the end, the Oilers were the get-right opponent, allowing the Blues a late tally for a 3–2 regulation win. This game probably should have at least gone to overtime, but it didn’t. That it’s just the Blues’ second win at home all season stings even more. This was a winnable game, and the Oilers were strong enough for 35 minutes to start. But the last 25 minutes were their undoing, and they come away with not even a single standings point.
3–2 loss, and the road record for Edmonton now sits at 2–5–1. Tough one. Here’s the game story.
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First goals do in fact matter, especially late in the period
The differences between when the Oilers get the first goal and when they don’t are stark, especially visiting. On the road, Edmonton was 2–0 in games scoring first, and 0–4–1 when not drawing first blood. A good start against St. Louis was key to having a better night ahead of them.
Though the first period was at times tentative for the Oilers, they managed to survive their own mistakes. Eventually, they capitalized on a couple of Blues mistakes, as they made Oskar Sundqvist pay for taking a holding penalty late in the first period. Connor McDavid’s pass to Jack Roslovic to open the scoring made Pavel Buchnevich look helpless.
The primary assist marked McDavid’s 1,100th NHL point in just 726 games played. He is the fourth-fastest in NHL history to reach that milestone. More importantly, the Oilers went to the dressing room up 1–0 after one, which hasn’t often been the case. They didn’t have their best start tonight, but they came out of 20 minutes of play on top, and that’s what matters.
Great start to the game by Pickard comes undone in final 25 minutes
The Oilers made it 2–0 not long after the second period got underway. McDavid got point number 1,101 by feeding Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who in turn set up Andrew Mangiapane with a sublime feed. That score held up for a decent amount of time, and at the Oilers’ end, Calvin Pickard was making some quality saves to keep it 2–0. Unfortunately, it was Isaac “Ike” Howard’s turn to take a penalty, and see the opponent convert a power play.
That goal is hard to put on Pickard, and even if you wanted to, at that point he had still stopped 13 of 14 shots. The second goal however… not desirable, not “smooth.” Especially not just a couple minutes later.
The game-winner, inside 1:30 to play in the third, is equal parts poor rebound control and an Evan Bouchard memory lapse. That late in the period, with a tie score, you can’t simply forget Pius Suter exists. It’s like nothing has been learned from 2024–25, about how good Suter can be.
Pickard finished with 19 saves and an .864 save percentage. In some ways, akin to how he hadn’t wholly earned a 2–1–1 record coming in, he didn’t entirely deserve this loss. But at the end of the day, the goalie at the other end made one extra save that Pickard couldn’t.
The forward lines are starting to form but some more work is still needed
Some positives could be gleaned out of this game offensively, even if most of the same issues still linger. Though they didn’t score tonight, it’s looking like Roslovic will remain with Leon Draisaitl and Vasily Podkolzin. At the end of last year, it was discussed how Podkolzin-Draisaitl, with Kasperi Kapanen at their flank, would aid Draisaitl in his quest for an up-for-grabs Selke Trophy. Roslovic is so far filling the Kapanen void quite nicely, which the Oilers desperately needed.
McDavid-Nugent-Hopkins-Mangiapane is also looking decent. If they can continue to have chemistry, it allows for two things to happen. It allows Edmonton to put Zach Hyman back in with a third-line soft-launch, and not rush him back to McDavid’s flank. Additionally, should another winger click with McDavid and Hyman, Nuge and Mangiapane become two-thirds of a solid third line.
This team unquestionably needs more depth scoring, and they definitively miss having Hyman. But upon his return, things may be looking up in a major way. It’s a matter of getting to the end of the tunnel, and surviving the apparent allergy to scoring more than two goals in regulation time. That still remains the biggest issue right now.
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