In a season already full of rough nights, the Edmonton Oilers endured their worst loss of the year, getting outclassed 8-3 Tuesday night by the St. Louis Blues.
The Oilers sink to 7-12-2 on the season. They’ve won just once in their last six games.
“That game is indefensible on my behalf,” Oilers head coach Todd McLellan said after the game. “I can’t stand here and buy into anything else. In every facet of the game we were second. It wasn’t even close.”
The Blues opened the scoring 3:13 into the game. Vladimir Tarasenko’s shot deflected off Adam Larsson’s stick and over Cam Talbot’s shoulder. About four minutes later, Dmitrij Yaskin beat Talbot from a bad angle. Talbot was pulled after allowing two goals on three shots. Laurent Brossoit took over in goal.
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“It’s very frustrating. We haven’t been playing the way we are supposed to be or capable of,” Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl said after the game. “I think it starts with our top two lines, including myself. It’s not good enough. We have to change things.”
The Blues continued to control the game in the second period, adding goals from Jaden Schwartz and Brayden Schenn.
“There’s no excuses at this point,” Talbot said. “I feel like we just need to tighten a few things up, myself included.”
The Oilers finally broke through in the third, with Milan Lucic converting a feed from Connor McDavid. Scottie Upshall made it 5-1 Blues 1:30 later, tapping home a goal-mouth feed from Chris Thorburn. Tarasenko added another off a quick wrist shot with 7:39 left. Schenn made it 7-1 with a power play deflection. Draisaitl added a late goal for Edmonton before Paul Stastny piled on one more for St. Louis. Darnell Nurse rounded out the scoring with just over a minute remaining.
“We gave up way too many goals,” Lucic said. “It’s going to be a long year if we don’t fix it right now.”
The Oilers play game three of their five-game road trip Wednesday in Detroit.
-With files from Brenden Ullrich and Scott Johnston
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