November 24, 2024

Preview: Blues vs. Oilers

Oilers #Oilers

BLUES VS. OILERS

When: Wednesday, Oct. 26 at 7 p.m. CTWhere: Enterprise Center in St. Louis, MOWatch: Bally Sports Midwest, Bally Sports appListen: 101 ESPN, Blues appTickets: Online at Ticketmaster.com

TEAM SNAPSHOTS

BLUES Falling 4-0 in Winnipeg, the St. Louis Blues were shut out for the first time since March 25, 2021. Including postseason games, the Blues played 124 games between shutouts – a franchise record and 18th on the NHL’s all-time leaderboard.

Despite the loss, Thomas Greiss excelled in goal with 39 saves in his Blues debut, the most in franchise history by a goaltender in their first appearance with the team.

“(Greiss) played fantastic tonight,” said captain Ryan O’Reilly. “The score could have been a lot worse than it was – he made some key saves at key times.”

The Blues will have to put Monday’s disappointment behind them quickly as they play three games over the next four nights – kicking off with a rematch against the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday. They’ll turn around for a quick getaway game in Nashville on Thursday, and overall play four of their next five games at Enterprise Center.

The Blues enter Wednesday’s matchup with a 3-1-0 record, worth six points and third place – still with the fewest games played – in the Central Division.

OILERS After starting their season with six consecutive home games, the Edmonton Oilers will set out on their first road trip of the season, opening Wednesday night in St. Louis.

They bounced back from getting shutout by Jordan Binnington and the Blues with a 6-3 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins, led by Leon Draisaitl’s three-point performance. After going down 3-1 early in the second period, the Oilers scored five unanswered goals to take control of the game. In total, they put up 47 shots on goal – more than double the number they sent Binnington’s way.

“(We found) our legs,” said Draisaitl. “The second we start skating and start being engaged, we’re extremely hard to stop – it just takes us too long to get to that point as of right now.”

Connor McDavid took a hard slide into the goal post during Monday’s game, though he eventually returned to the bench amidst the five-goal run.

Edmonton brings an even 3-3-0 record with them to Enterprise Center, worth six points and third place in the Pacific Division.

HEAD-TO-HEAD The shutout win on Saturday will be fresh in the minds of the Blues as they host Edmonton for their second of three matchups this season.

At Enterprise Center, the Blues are 4-1-1 in their last six games vs. the Oilers.

  PLAYERS TO WATCH

BLUES Justin Faulk, who currently leads the club with three goals in four games this season and sealed the shutout win at Edmonton with an empty-netter. Faulk’s 16 goals were just one shy of his career-high last season. He is entering his fourth year with the Blues.

OILERS Leon Draisaitl, whose 11 points on the season share second in the NHL. His eight assists lead the League.

BLUE NOTES

The Blues have started their season with a four-game streak without allowing a power-play goal, setting a new franchise record. They are one of three teams so far to kill off all their penalties, including four separate opportunities on Monday night at Winnipeg… Currently 9-for-9 on the penalty kill, they are two consecutive kills shy of a franchise record streak to start the season… Excluding postseason, the Blues played 108 games between shutouts, the third-longest streak in franchise history and was the longest active streak in the NHL… The Blues have allowed just 2.25 goals-against per game this season, ranking fourth in the League.

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