Schwartz gets hat trick, assist in Blues win against Oilers

ST. LOUIS -- Jaden Schwartz got his fourth NHL hat trick and had an assist for the St. Louis Blues in a 7-2 win against the Edmonton Oilers at Enterprise Center on Tuesday.

David Perron had two goals and an assist, Tyler Bozak had three assists, and Jordan Binnington made 15 saves for St. Louis (38-27-8), which remained third in the Central Division, five points behind the Nashville Predators and two points ahead of the Dallas Stars. The Predators defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-0 on Tuesday, when the Stars won 4-2 against the Florida Panthers.
It was Schwartz's first hat trick since Oct. 18, 2017, against the Chicago Blackhawks and the third four-point game of his NHL career. His previous four-point game also was against the Oilers, on Nov. 21, 2017, when he had a goal and three assists.
"It's a nice feeling," Schwartz said. "Maybe you grip the stick a little bit less when you see a couple going in and see a little bit more of the net. Obviously the linemates and the other players made great plays on those goals and some nights they just seem to find a way and others they don't."
WATCH: [All Oilers vs. Blues highlights]
Perron extended his personal point streak to 16 games (nine goals, 12 assists). He has five points (three goals, two assists) in three games after missing 24 with a concussion.
"This is the situation we were in last year, gave me that opportunity, and I'm glad that I can do this again this year," Perron said referring to his NHL career-high 66 points, including 50 assists, in 2017-18 for the Vegas Golden Knights. "I'm trying to be sharp every puck touch. I need to keep doing that whether it's practice or in a game as we keep going, and obviously in playoffs, power plays are huge."
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zack Kassian scored for the Oilers (32-34-7), who are seven points behind the Arizona Coyotes for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. Mikko Koskinen allowed three goals on 20 shots before being pulled in the second period. Anthony Stolarz made 20 saves in relief.
"We're running on fumes," Edmonton coach Ken Hitchcock said. "We need to get home and see if we can get some rest and get playing. We're banged up and there's not much left of us. We just need to regroup and get ready for the homestand. It's a tough loss."

Oilers center Connor McDavid was held without a point and had his eight-game multipoint streak and personal 12-game point streak end.
Schwartz gave St. Louis a 1-0 lead at 11:41 of the first period.
Alex Pietrangelo made it 2-0 27 seconds into the second period on a breakaway.
Schwartz made it 3-0 at 5:42, and the Oilers pulled Koskinen. Perron scored from below the goal line, banking the puck off Stolarz, to make it 4-0 at 7:14.
Edmonton came back late in the second when Nugent-Hopkins cut the lead to 4-1 at 18:28, and Kassian made it 4-2 at 19:23.
"We spent a lot of energy coming back," Hitchcock said. "The fifth goal was the killer for us. Against a good team like that, you can't take a penalty 200 feet from your net. We couldn't get it killed. We couldn't get the face-off won."

Perron scored on the power play 6:00 into the third period for a 5-2 lead, and Pat Maroon's third goal in as many games at 13:22 made it 6-2.
Schwartz completed the hat trick at 18:48 for the 7-2 final.
"We were clicking on all cylinders," Pietrangelo said. "We had a lot of chances to maybe even get a couple more. When we have four lines that can score like we do, it's tough to play against."

They said it

"We didn't start sharp enough the past two games. It's not just the first period, it's every period we need to start with the same energy, the same intensity. We finished off the second and clawed our way back within two and we just didn't come out with that same intensity that we had at the end of the second." -- Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
"We had a real good start of the game. We came out with the right mindset in this game and played our game, which is what we wanted to do." -- Blues coach Craig Berube

Need to know

Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl was held without a point for the second time in four games after a 14-game point streak. ... It was Bozak's first three-point game with the Blues. ... The Blues have won 14 straight games when Brayden Schenn, Ryan O'Reilly and Vladimir Tarasenko are on the same line. … Tarasenko had five shots in 17:32 in his return after missing five games with an upper-body injury.

What's next

Oilers: Host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday (9 p.m. ET; SN1, SNE, SNO, SNP, TVAS, FS-O, NHL.TV)
Blues: Host the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; FS-MW, FS-D, NHL.TV)