PREVIEW: Oilers at Blues

The Edmonton Oilers hit the road for back-to-back games starting on Monday at Enterprise Center against the St. Louis Blues.

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PREVIEW: Oilers at Blues

ST. LOUIS, MO – Things are starting to heat up heading to St. Louis.

With the NHL calendar turning to November and the temperature outside starting to drop, there's a sense inside the Oilers locker room that their game can really begin to catch fire as they hit the road again this week for back-to-back games, starting on Monday night at Enterprise Center against the Blues.

Even if the players and coaches think it's a slow burn right now, the Oilers are 4-1-2 over their last seven games, including a 3-2 overtime victory over the Chicago Blackhawks this past Saturday at Rogers Place to open their November slate and end a three-game homestand with four of a possible six points.

"It's definitely getting there," said Evan Bouchard, who scored the overtime winner. "When we play the way we want to play, you can see how dominant we are. It's about putting it all together for 60 minutes or more and keeping going with that."

There have been some disappointing losses – none more frustrating than last Thursday's 4-3 OT defeat to the Rangers after leading by two goals through 40 minutes – but Saturday's win over the Blackhawks was a resilient one that the Oilers are hoping can kickstart some consistency in their play and results, which have fluctuated through their opening 13 games for a 6-4-3 record.

They haven't all been pretty, but points are points at this stage of the season, and the Oilers only feel they're getting better.

"We're finding ways to get points," Connor McDavid said post-game on Saturday. "It hasn't been very pretty, but it's October hockey. We've got to find a way to bring some emotion into the game, get ourselves going a little bit during some of those lulls, but we're finding ways to put points on the board, and that's what it's all about.

"Not off to the best start of our lives, but not the worst start either, so we're hanging in there right now."

Leon Draisaitl and Jack Roslovic each scored on the power play in the second period on Saturday, with their man advantage leading the League this season at 33.3 percent (12-for-36) and returning to being a significant strength of their team after it went 2-for-4 against Chicago, which carried them to victory.

Roslovic filled the net-front role on Edmonton's top power-play unit and has two goals and two assists in his last four games, while finding a fit alongside Leon Draisaitl and Vasily Podkolzin in the top six to contribute two goals, three helpers, 25 shots on net and a plus-6 rating through 11 appearances after missing Training Camp and signing with the Oilers on Oct. 8 as a free agent.

Defenceman Evan Bouchard had a statement game, scoring the OT winner and adding an assist after answering tough questions a few days earlier about turnovers and mistakes – both at an individual and collective level – that played a part in Edmonton's slow start during the month of October.

After going pointless with a minus-5 rating in his first six games of the season, Bouchard has backed up his play by silencing his critics with two goals and seven assists in his last seven appearances, and the 26-year-old has the full support of his teammates in the same way that he trusts them when on the ice.

"Isn't that the most Bouch thing ever?" McDavid said.

"Just stands in there like he does. You guys (the media) can say what you want about him. We love him in there. We know when he's at his best, he's among the very best. We've got his back no matter what's going on. His play can be better, everyone's play can be better, but I'm really happy for him to get that big goal and quiet some people a little bit."

While things will still get tougher for the Oilers, Head Coach Kris Knoblauch hopes his team continues to trend in the right direction.

"I still think we're not playing our best hockey, and we knew at the beginning of the season it's going to take a while to build this and get our identity," he said. "It's going to take a while. It's not that we've solved things, and certainly, our schedule is going to get a little more difficult being on the road with Dallas and St. Louis on this trip and then the East Coast trip. All those stretches are going to be really difficult.

"But we've had a lot of change at the beginning of the season with the players that we had coming in. We're trying to settle things out and put lines together, everyone understanding what our systems are and then playing the way we know we can. It's a long process, and hopefully we're trending the right way."

The Blues were two minutes away from advancing to the Second Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season, losing 4-3 in 2OT to the Jets in Game 7 after their late collapse, but their start hasn't been terrific this year as they chase down another postseason appearance.

St. Louis is winless in its last seven games, going 0-5-2 and getting outscored 32-19 in the process after being unable to rally in the third period against the Columbus Blue Jackets and netminder Jet Greaves, who stopped 17 of 18 shots in the final frame.

The Blues haven't gone winless in eight straight games (in a single season) since losing eight in a row during the 2022-23 season, and they're averaging the most goals against/game this season (4.17) and have the highest OPP Shooting% (16.3) and the lowest team SV% (.837) in the NHL.

The Oilers knocked off the Blues in all three meetings last season, but St. Louis has earned points in three straight home games against Edmonton (2-0-1) and is 3-1-1 in its previous five games at Enterprise Center against them.