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.
The Edmonton Oilers will look to shed the St. Louis Blues' defensive blanket during an early-season rematch on the road Wednesday night.
The Blues defeated the Oilers 2-0 on Saturday at Edmonton, holding a potent offense to 23 shots during Jordan Binnington's shutout.
"They are a well-rehearsed team," Oilers defenseman Tyson Barrie said. "They have been through the wringer and understand what it takes to win and the style of game they need to play. They are a defensive team. They don't trade chances."
The Blues clogged up the neutral zone and tried to impede elite Oilers forwards Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid at every opportunity.
"It was a muddy track," Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft said. "That's the way they play."
The Oilers got back into their high offensive gear Monday while rolling to 6-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins. After a slow start, they scored five unanswered goals to seize control.
"It seems very obvious with our group that the second we start skating and being engaged that (we) are extremely hard to stop," said Draisaitl, who scored a goal and added two assists. "It just takes us too long to get to that point as of right now. That is something we can obviously work on."
After a 3-3 homestand to start its season, Edmonton will begin a three-game road swing.
They will catch the Blues coming off a 4-0 loss at Winnipeg. St. Louis had a myriad breakdowns while losing for the first time after a 3-0-0 start.
The Blues had lapses in defensive coverage, took some bad penalties and lacked offensive cohesion.
"We deviated coming off a big, emotional win against Edmonton," Blues captain Ryan O'Reilly said. "Whether we wanted it a little easier, we just kind of got away. We've got to stick with that game play, be hard to play against and not be the team to break. But we broke first and it just gave them momentum."
The Blues generated plenty of scoring chances during the first period, but faded while the Jets gathered speed.
"It's a night where we're all wanting to make a good play, but just overthinking it and not being clean," O'Reilly said. "Not executing. It's tough to gain any momentum and take over a game like that. So it happens, we'll respond, we all can be better and go from there."
They will try to clean up their game before facing Edmonton.
"That wasn't our best," Blues forward Brayden Schenn said. "And we'll flush it out and get ready for a good Oiler team."
The Blues will be without key forward Pavel Buchnevich (lower-body injury), who was placed on injured reserve Tuesday. Brandon Saad (upper-body injury) could miss Wednesday's game. Forward Logan Brown made his season debut Monday after recovering from his preseason shoulder injury.
After giving backup goaltender Thomas Greiss his first start of the season in Winnipeg, the Blues could come back with Binnington (3-0-0, 1.65 goals-against average, .940 save percentage) against the Oilers.
The Oilers face the Blues and Chicago Blackhawks on back-to-back nights, so goalies Jack Campbell (3-2-0, 3.62 GAA, .895 save percentage) and Stuart Skinner (0-1-0, 1.69, .944) figure to split the games.
