Wednesday, December 29, 2021 08:30 PM (ET)

Blues stay hot at home with victory over Oilers

Field Level Media
Dec 29, 2021

Vladimir Tarasenko and Jordan Kyrou had a goal and two assists each to lift the St. Louis Blues past the visiting Edmonton Oilers 4-2 Wednesday.

Robert Thomas and Brandon Saad also scored and Jordan Binnington made 26 saves for the Blues, who are 6-1-2 in their last nine games overall and 9-0-1 in their last 10 home games.

Blues coach Craig Berube earned his 200th NHL coaching victory.

Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard scored for the Oilers, who lost for the seventh time in their last nine games.

Mike Smith returned from his leg injury to make 29 saves for Edmonton in his first start since Oct. 19.

The Blues outscored the Oilers 2-1 and outshot them 15-10 in the wide-open first period.

Thomas, who missed seven games with a lower-body injury, and Kyrou, who was out four games with an upper-body injury, returned to the lineup and gave the Blues an early 2-0 lead.

Kyrou tipped the puck ahead to Thomas for a 2-on-0 break with Tarasenko and Thomas tapped in Tarasenko's cross-crease pass 4:03 into the game.

Less than 3 minutes later Kyrou made it 2-0 with a clean break-in from the right wing.

Draisaitl cut to his left into the high slot to beat Binnington with a snapshot 32 seconds later to cut the Blues' lead in half.

Bouchard tied the game 2-2 with 8:11 left in the second period with a shot from atop the right circle through traffic. Connor McDavid set him up after circling the back of the net.

But Tarasenko put the Blues up 3-2 with a clean break-in off Kyrou's pass through Oilers defenseman Duncan Keith.

Tarasenko has five goals and four assists in his last four games.

The Blues scored a power-play goal 16 seconds into the third period to push their lead to 4-2. David Perron fired a slap shot from the left circle and Saad jammed in the rebound.

--Field Level Media

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