The Edmonton Oilers first game since Dec. 18 resulted in a 4-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues.
“We made a couple of mistakes early and got behind early and chased the game,” head coach Dave Tippett said. “We were around it a little bit, but turned over a lot of pucks and ended up chasing, and when you’ve been off for 11 days that’s not an ideal situation.”
LISTEN BELOW: Head Coach Dave Tippett
The Blues grabbed a 2-0 lead before the game was seven minutes old on goals by Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou. Leon Draisaitl provided a quick response by the Oilers, firing home his 24th of the season.
In the second period, just seconds after Connor McDavid hit the crossbar, Evan Bouchard threaded a shot through a crowd to make it 2-2. The Blues regained the lead when Vladimir Tarasenko beat Mike Smith with 4:14 left in the period.
“I thought we were doing it at times; putting pucks behind them and getting the forecheck going and we just didn’t do it often enough,” Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said.
LISTEN BELOW: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
Brandon Saad made it 4-2 with a power play goal 16 seconds into the third.
Smith played for the first time since being injured on Oct. 19, making 29 saves.
Defenceman Dmitry Samorukov played his first NHL game, going -2 into 2:28 of ice time.
Kyrou and Tarasenko both had a goal and two assists.
“Gotta rest, get hydrated and put this one behind us,” Bouchard said. “We have to take it as a learning step and go from there.”
LISTEN BELOW: Evan Bouchard
The Oilers, 18-12, will visit the New Jersey Devils on Friday. The game is on 630 CHED with the Face-off Show at 9:30 a.m. The game will start at 11 a.m.