A pair of Western Conference rivals tangle on the ice in search of a victory when they collide in the province of Alberta. The St. Louis Blues make the trip north of the border as they collide with the Edmonton Oilers Saturday afternoon. St. Louis comes into this game on the heels of a 4-3 overtime road win over Seattle Wednesday night in their previous contest. Edmonton got their offense clicking as they dropped previously unbeaten Carolina 6-4 at home Thursday night in their recent contest. In the last 10 meetings between the teams, the teams have split down the middle though the Blues have a 5-3-2 mark as far as getting points in the standings. The most recent matchup saw the Oilers prevail 6-5 in overtime at home on April 1, 2022.
St. Louis has played only twice in the opening 10 days of the season after dropping Seattle in overtime Wednesday. The Blues look to make it three straight wins to kick off the 2022-23 season here. They entered Friday tied for fourth in the Central Division standings, three points behind the Stars for the top spot. St. Louis is second in the league in goals for as they average 4.50 goals a contest this season. The Blues stand tied for 6th in the league in goals against as they allow an average of 2.50 goals a night. St. Louis is 19th in power play success as they cash in on 16.7% of their chances with the man advantage this season. The Blues are tied for 1st in penalty killing as they successfully navigate 100% of their shorthanded situations this year.
Against the Kraken, the Blues got off to a hot start but cooled off considerably before prevailing in overtime. St. Louis came out strong, outshooting Seattle 12-10 in the opening period and taking a 3-1 lead to the dressing room after 20 minutes of play. Jordan Kyrou opened the scoring with his first goal of the season at 7:16 of the period off assists from Colton Parayko and Nick Leddy. After the Kraken tied the game, Brayden Schenn gave St. Louis a 2-1 lead with his first of the season at 11:55 with assists going to Vladimir Tarasenko and Robert Thomas. Justin Faulk extended the Blues to a 3-1 advantage with his first of the year just 17 seconds later, at 12:12, with Tarasenko and Schenn drawing the helpers on that marker. In the second period, the Blues were outshot 12-9 and outscored 2-0 to send the game to the second intermission all even at three goals apiece. The third period saw the Blues outshot by a 12-6 margin with neither team denting the twine, sending things to overtime. In the extra session, each team had one shot on goal but it was the Blues lighting the lamp for the victory. Fa ulk’s second goal of the game, and the season, at the 2:10 mark of overtime was the winner for the Blues. Tarasenko and Thomas drew the assists on that marker. Jordan Binnington made 32 saves for the Blues, who were outshot 35-28, in the victory. He’s expected to be between the pipes again for this contest.