GDT #53: Blues @ Oilers | 7:00 pm CT | BSMW, 101 ESPN

[theohall]

BLUES The St. Louis Blues saw their road win streak fall on Tuesday night, giving up an early lead to the Toronto Maple Leafs that lasted to the final buzzer.

Alexey Toropchenko and the Blues fourth line excelled, scoring for the second game in a row; but a 32-15 shot deficit gave them little opportunity to even the score later on.

"We know we have to be a whole lot better than we were tonight," said Brayden Schenn. "We relied on our goalie to make saves and he kept us in the game, but at the end of the day we just didn't have enough guys - pretty much everyone - that were willing to play the right way and play hard."

Aside from Toropchenko's goal and Jordan Binnington's effort between the pipes, the other highlight to the game was rookie defenseman Matthew Kessel logging his first NHL point. Kessel's 17:30 of average ice time per game (17 games) put him 12th among this year's NHL rookie blue liners.

The Blues will look to shake off the loss and resume their upward momentum on Thursday night, beginning a four-game homestand against another star-studded opponent in the Edmonton Oilers. Nashville comes to town Saturday for a crucial Central Division matchup before the Blues get another shot at the Maple Leafs on Monday afternoon.

The Blues host the Oilers with a record of 28-22-2, worth 58 points and fourth in the Central Division.

OILERS After a slow start to the season, the Edmonton Oilers shot up the standings over the last two months to put themselves squarely back in the postseason hunt. Parting ways with head coach Jay Woodcroft after a 3-9-1 start, the Oilers proceeded to go on an eight game win streak from Nov. 24 to Dec. 12 and then a monumental 16-game win streak from Dec. 21 to Jan. 27.

Though he hasn't quite kept pace with Nikita Kucherov and Nathan MacKinnon atop the NHL's scoring leaderboards this year, Connor McDavid and continues to be one of the most dominant players in the world. He and Leon Draisaitl remain a formidable duo, totalling 139 points (McDavid 77, Draisaitl 62) on the season.

Since the win streak snapped just after the All-Star Break, the Oilers are 2-2-0 with wins over Anaheim and Detroit and losses to Vegas and Los Angeles. The latest was the win over Detroit, and 8-4 victory driven by a spectacular McDavid performance.

Not to be outdone by Krug's historic game in Montreal, McDavid dished out a career-high six assists to lift the Oilers over the Red Wings. Tied 3-3 after the second period, the Oilers put up five goals in the third period, including two from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, to turn the game on its head.

Thursday's matchup in St. Louis is the start of a three-game road trip for the Oilers, continuing in Dallas and Arizona before five straight at home.

The Oilers visit the Blues with a record of 31-17-1, worth 63 points and third in the Pacific Division.

HEAD TO HEAD The Blues went 2-1-0 against Edmonton last season, winning both games on the road and losing at home. The Blues will visit the Oilers on Feb. 28 and then host them again on April 1 to close out their season series.

PLAYERS TO WATCH
BLUES Jordan Kyrou, who leads the Blues with 12 goals at Enterprise Center this season. Kyrou shares second on the Blues in goals, assists and points, with six points in his last five games.

OILERS Connor McDavid, who leads the Oilers and ranks third in the NHL with 77 points this season. Despite a shutout loss to the Kings on Saturday, McDavid has 14 points in his last five games.

BLUE NOTES
The Blues are 3-1-1 in their last 5 games against Edmonton. In their last 15 matchups, the Blues are 9-4-2

The Blues' mark of 2.22 goals against per game since Jan. 20 rank fourth in the NHL and their power-play percentage of 34.6% since Jan. 20 ranks third

Since Jan. 11, Jake Neighbours has four power play goals, which shares third in the NHL in that span while Oskar Sundqvist shares eighth with three. Robert Thomas has nine power-play points (two goals, seven assists) since Jan. 11, which shares the most in the League

Jordan Binnington has posted a 7-3-1 record, with a 2.17 GAA, a .928 SV%, and a shutout in his last 11 starts. In that span, his seven wins share 7th in the NHL, while his 2.17 GAA ranks eighth and his .928 SV% ranks sixth (minimum five starts)

Robert Thomas is one assist shy of reaching at least 40 assists for the third straight season (47 in 2022-23; 57 in 2021-22), which would make him the sixth player in franchise history to do so and the first since Brett Hull from 1995-96 to 1997-98

[glen a richter]

I never would have pegged Neighbours as a guy who would pot 19 goals... so far. Dude hangs out in the right spots, he reminds me of Maroon to some extent.

[flyingnote38]

neighbors has been a big factor in this team being better than expected
second period last night was the best the Blues have looked in a long time
game would have been very different without two insane saves by Binner though