Oilers at Blues preview: Edmonton’s standings slide continues

The Edmonton Oilers started the season on a tear, surprising many fans and challenging for the top spot in the Western Conference. Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl have been a potent one-two punch for the team, with 20 and 21 goals and 59 and 57 points, respectively.

That one-two punch is the only punch the Oilers seem to have right now. James Neal is still James Neal, and Zack Kassian has 12 goals on the year, but the scoring is sparse if McDavid and Draisaitl aren’t involved. The Oilers are 18th in the league with 2.94 goals a game but have a -2 goal differential. If the Blues can limit McDavid and Draisaitl, the Oilers’ won’t be hard to take out. They’re 3-6-1 in their last ten games and went on a four game losing streak before beating the Stars 2-1 on Monday.

The Blues are slowly recovering from injuries and have turned their three-game losing streak into two exciting back-to-back wins and a three game win streak. The Blackhawks blew a three goal lead in the third period to give the Blues a 4-3 win on Saturday, and Monday night the Blues outgunned their closest competition in the Central Division, the Colorado Avalanche, to the tune of a 5-2 win.

It might not take a David Perron hat trick to beat the Oilers tonight, but the support he got from Vince Dunn and Jaden Schwartz will need to be there tonight.

The last time these two teams met, the Blues left Edmonton with a 5-2 win in front of some stellar goaltending from Jake Allen. Whoever is in net tonight is going to have to deal with the league’s top power play, so their heads - and the defense’s - need to be on a swivel. Don’t sleep on Draisaitl and McDavid.