Edmonton, AB (SportsNetwork.com) - David Backes' power-play goal in the second
period proved to be the difference as the St. Louis Blues took a 5-2 win over
the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday.
Chris Stewart, Maxim Lapierre, Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrik Berglund also
scored for the Blues, winners in six straight. Brian Elliot made 16 saves in
the win.
Nail Yakupov and Mark Arcobello scored one goal apiece for the Oilers, losers
in five of their last six games. Ilya Bryzgalov allowed four goals on 29 shots
in the loss.
Stewart's power-play goal at 12:46 of the first period have the Blues a 1-0
lead. Stewart weaved through defenders and had an open look, but was turned
away by Bryzgalov. Derek Roy, though, found Stewart at the point and he
unleashed a slapshot for his fourth goal in two games against Edmonton.
Yakupov scored 1:36 into the second period when his snap shot from the left
circle eluded traffic and found the back of the net.
Lapierre put the Blues back in front with his wrister just 42 seconds later.
Lapierre corralled the puck in the corner and drove to the net and beat
Bryzgalov for the 2-1 edge.
Arcobello's fourth goal of the season knotted things up at 2-2 when he blasted
a wrister into the back of the net at the 5:10 mark.
Backes' marker at 10:56 gave St. Louis the lead for good. Backes took a pass
at the left circle and was able to thread a shot past Bryzgalov.
"They played us pretty hard for the first half of the game before we got a
power-play goal that allowed us to lock down the hatches after that," said
Backes.
Taresnko blasted a shot off the draw to make it 4-2, and Berglund scored on an
empty net in the third for the final margin.
"I didn't love our start," Oilers coach Dallas Eakins said. "I thought we were
watching them play, especially in our own zone, we weren't initiating
contact."
Game Notes
The Blues improved to 20-0-2 when leading after two periods ... St. Louis
scored five goals for the 13th time this season ... Edmonton fell to 2-23-1
when trailing after two periods.