Oilers defeat Blues in overtime

ST. LOUIS -- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored with 2:05 remaining in overtime to give the Edmonton Oilers a 3-2 win against the St. Louis Blues at Scottrade Center on Monday.
Nugent-Hopkins took a feed from Connor McDavid after the Blues were caught having to make a line change off a 3-on-2 when left wing Robby Fabbri fell in the offensive zone, which enabled Oilers defenseman Andrej Sekera to spring McDavid for the odd-man rush.
"[Sekera] made a good play taking it into the zone and if you give Connor the puck and good opportunities, he's going to make a play for sure," Nugent-Hopkins said. "It was definitely a hard-fought game for us tonight overall.

WATCH: All Oilers vs. Blues highlights
"We battled back hard in the third to get that late goal and we finished it off. Then obviously in overtime, we really dug in to get that one."
Tyler Pitlick scored for the Oilers (17-12-5), who opened a three-game road trip. Pitlick was injured with 4:26 remaining in the second while going into the corner with Blues center Jori Lehtera. Pat Maroon also scored and Cam Talbot made 25 saves.
"It was a real good comeback on our behalf," Oilers coach Todd McLellan said. "A little bit flat to start, but we made a few adjustments between periods. The players adjusted their approach a little bit more.
"I thought we got a little more physical and made them play in their end, and it paid off. We had to use all whatever it was, 62, 63 minutes, but that's how it is in the League now."

Kyle Brodziak and Vladimir Tarasenko scored for St. Louis (17-11-5). Carter Hutton made 32 saves.
"I thought we had some people (play determined) today; we just don't have enough," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. "They're a big team. They're big, they're fast, they're physical. You've got to have fight in you. I thought we had some guys that really brought it today. I thought we had some really good performances today, but if you're going to beat a team like Edmonton, you're going to have to have everybody on board. We didn't."
Maroon tied it 2-2 at 5:47 of the third period when he redirected Brandon Davidson's wrist shot from the right point.
Edmonton almost won it with 36 seconds left after a Hutton giveaway, but Milan Lucic's shot hit the outside of the net.
Brodziak gave the Blues a 1-0 lead at 4:20 of the first period on a shot from the high slot.
Pitlick tied it 1-1 after a faceoff win and quick shot from the left circle at 11:44, but Tarasenko put St. Louis back in front 33 seconds later.

#

Goal of the game

Tarasenko's sharp-angle shot in the left circle after collecting Fabbri's rebound gave the Blues a 2-1 lead at 12:17 of the first period.

Save of the game

The Blues were buzzing in the first and Talbot came up huge against Ryan Reaves' tip in front to keep it a 1-0 game with 12:28 remaining in the period.

Highlight of the game

Once the speedy Oilers saw the chance, Sekera moved the puck quickly to McDavid, who passed and created some traffic in front for Nugent-Hopkins to win the game from the slot.

Unsung performance of the game

Maroon, a St. Louis native, not only scored the game-tying goal with his grit in front of the net, outworking Blues defenseman Carl Gunnarsson, he also tied for the team-lead in shots with four, had four hits and one faceoff win in 17:24 of ice time.

They said it

"That was good, especially playing in front of a team that I grew up watching. We had season tickets and you always get up for those games no matter what. It's fun to play your hometown team that you grew up watching, and to get a goal is an extra bonus for me, and especially in front of my son and my family." -- Oilers left wing Patrick Maroon
"It's like the same story this year; (we) just haven't really been putting up 'W's. It's tough." -- Blues goalie Carter Hutton

Need to know

McLellan said Pitlick (lower-body injury) will miss some time. "He's got to be re-evaluated, but right now it doesn't look too good," McLellan said. ... McDavid (40 points) still leads Tarasenko (38 points) for the NHL points lead after each got one point Monday.

What's next

Oilers: At the Arizona Coyotes on Wednesday (9:30 p.m. ET; FS-A PLUS, SNW, NHL.TV)
Blues: At the Dallas Stars on Tuesday (8:30 p.m. ET; FS-SW, FS-MW, NHL.TV)