Blues spoil Connor McDavid’s first game in Edmonton, 4-2
EDMONTON – There was a sense of rebirth on Thursday night in Edmonton.
Rexall Place hosted its last home opener, before the Oilers’ new barn opens next season. The crowd had a new look, covered in orange, either in new Edmonton Oilers sweaters or the scarves left on fans’ seats as they walked in. The team had a new look, too, with phenom Connor McDavid hitting home ice for the first time in the regular season.
Alas, at the final buzzer, it was a familiar result: The Oilers losing, as the Blues took a 4-2 decision, their second win against Edmonton this season. St. Louis moved to 3-1-0; Edmonton is now 0-4-0.
A big part of that loss for Edmonton was a tepid effort on the power play, where they were 0-for-5, and going 1-for-14 on the season so far.
“Did the power play kill us again? Well, it didn’t win us the game,” said coach Todd McLellan. “And it probably won them the game. So was it the difference? Probably a pretty good chance it was again tonight.”
Jori Lehtera, Vladimir Tarasenko, Paul Stastny and Alex Steen had the goals for the Blues; Laurie Koprikoski scored his first goal as an Oiler, and Taylor Hall made it interesting in the third.
It was Koprikoski that opened the scoring at 1:36 of the first, driving to the net to convert a Blues turnover past Brian Elliott (24 saves). But Edmonton gave it right back at 3:14, as a blown defensive play by forward Nail Yakupov in the neutral zone led to a 4-on-3 Blues rush the other way. Troy Browuer’s shot was saved by Cam Talbot (25 saves), but Lehtera converted the rebound for his first of the season.
At 16:01 of the second period, Tarasenko does as he does: Unleashing a rocket, with one knee on the ice, a few moments after Lehtera won the draw back to Jay Bouwmeester. The Blues winger’s third of the season made it 2-1.
Paul Stastny scored on the power play at 4:20 of the third period, a deflection in front from Alex Steen and Alex Pietrangelo.
Hall energized the crowd with a great individual effort, taking a bouncing puck off the faceoff, controlling it past two Blues defenders in front of Elliot and then tucking it home. It was Hall’s first of the season.
That gave the crowd life and gave the Oilers jump, but it wasn’t enough to knot the game. Steen’s goal with 2:09 left in the game iced it.
McDavid, in his home debut, was a minus-3 with no shots on goal in 14:29 of ice time. He buzzed behind the net a few times to try and create chances, but was largely a non-factor.
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