When: Saturday, Dec. 7 at 9 p.m. CT
Where: Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB
Watch: FanDuel Sports Network
Listen: 101 ESPN, Blues App
QUICK HITS
BLUES Colton Parayko’s overtime goal extinguished the Calgary Flames on Thursday night 4-3, giving the St. Louis Blues (13-12-2) a winning record and their fourth consecutive road victory.
Zack Bolduc opened the scoring with a power-play goal in the first period, giving the Blues an early lead. Exactly two minutes later, Robert Thomas lit the lamp to put the Blues up 2-0. The Flames came back and scored twice to tie the game, including a goal from Calgary's Matt Coronato on the power play which snapped the Blues' streak of 13 consecutive successful penalty kills.
In the third frame, Pavel Buchnevich netted his seventh of the season to give the Blues the lead. However, 66 seconds later Calgary tied the game, eventually sending it into OT. At the 2:25 mark, Parayko called game after poking the puck in on a rebound. This marked Parayko’s fourth overtime-winning goal, the most in franchise history by a defenseman.
Goaltender Jordan Binnington played in his 300th career game on Thursday, stopping 36 shots and earning his 153rd victory.
Looking ahead to Saturday, all eyes are on Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg. The pair will make their return to Edmonton for the first time since signing offer sheets with the Blues this summer.
This season, both Broberg and Holloway have career-highs in goals, assists and points. Broberg has posted 12 points in 15 games (two goals, 10 assists), including his first multi-point game as a Blue on Thursday in Calgary. Holloway has 16 points on the year (eight goals, eight assists).
After practice in Edmonton on Friday, Holloway addressed the media about his return, describing it as bittersweet.
“It was definitely tough (leaving),” Holloway said. “We went so far as a team. We were two shots away from winning the Stanley Cup. So you end up getting tight with a lot of the guys, a lot of staff and it was such an incredible run that we went on and it was definitely tough leaving. But with that being said, I’ve been really happy with my situation here in St. Louis. Been getting some great opportunities. The coaches, teammates, everybody’s been great.”
OILERS The Edmonton Oilers (14-10-2) are coming off a 6-3 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night.
Columbus’ Kevin Labanc scored first to give the Blue Jackets an early lead. Seven minutes later, the Oilers struck to tie the game. Edmonton scored three back-to-back goals early in the second period for a 4-1 lead, and the game finished with each team netting two additional goals.
The Oilers lost a number of notable pieces from last year's team, including Warren Foegele to the Los Angeles Kings. Foegele had 41 points on the season (20 goals, 21 assists) for the Oilers in 2023-24. And, most notably, they lost Broberg and Holloway to the Blues via offer sheet.
After morning skate on Friday, Oilers Head Coach Kris Knoblauch addressed the media regarding the changes.
“With the offer sheet, you never want to lose players, especially young players that are NHL players and that can help you not only short term but long term,” Knoblauch said. “But on the flip side of it, you look at what that forced us to do, and we had a couple of replacements specifically, Ty Emberson and (Vasily) Podkolzin, and we’re extremely happy with them and love what they’re doing for our team.”
Although the Oilers lost key players, they also added depth to their roster, signing forward Podkolzin from the Vancouver Canucks and defenseman Emberson from the Sharks. Additionally, they signed forward Jeff Skinner from the Buffalo Sabres on a one-year, $3 million deal. In his 1,032 games, Skinner has 680 points (362 goals, 318 assists).
Last season marked the fifth consecutive season the Oilers had made the playoffs. They fell just short, losing to the Florida Panthers in seven games in the Stanley Cup Final.
