By Canadian Press

Connor McDavid breaks scoring drought with 3-2 winner over St. Louis Blues

Feb 28, 2024 | 9:50 PM

EDMONTON — Connor McDavid scored the overtime winner and added a pair of assists as the Edmonton Oilers bounced back from another dreadful start to defeat the St. Louis Blues 3-2 on Wednesday.

McDavid danced past a couple of defenders before chipping a shot past Blues goalie Jordan Binnington 4:34 into the overtime session. McDavid scored his 22nd to snap a 10-game drought without a goal, recording 25 consecutive assists between goals.

Zach Hyman had the other two goals for the Oilers (35-20-2) who have won two in a row and have gone 29-8-1 in their last 38 games.

Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich replied for the Blues (30-26-3) who have lost three in a row and five of their last six.

Binnington stopped 31 shots in the loss. Stuart Skinner saved 30 of 31 shots for the Oilers.

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The Blues had a terrific start to the game, scoring on the first shot of the game just 2:19 into the opening period. Awarded an early power play, Blues forward Thomas picked the top left corner past Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner with a wicked wrister from the top of the circle. It was Thomas’ 20th of the season, tying his career high. It was the seventh time in the last eight games that the Oilers surrendered the first goal.

St. Louis added to its lead on its third shot coming 4:49 into the first period as Jordan Kyrou made a nice pass from behind the net to allow Buchnevich to score his 24th on a point-blank shot.

Edmonton got one back on a power play of its own with 1:44 remaining in the first frame as McDavid fed a pass through to Hyman in tight and he sent his team-leading 39th past Binnington. It was Hyman’s sixth consecutive game with a goal. McDavid extended his home-game point streak to 24 games, his personal-best streak of that ilk.

The Oilers tied the game up five minutes into the second period as McDavid sent it back to Hyman on a two-on-one and he shovelled in his second of the game and eighth in the last six. It is the first time in Hyman’s career that he has hit the 40-goal mark, becoming the 13th player in Oilers history to do so.

The teams traded glorious chances four minutes into the third period as Edmonton defender Brett Kulak rang a shot off the cross bar and then Skinner was forced to make a five-alarm save on an opportunity by Zachary Bolduc the other way.

Thomas then had a short-handed breakaway, but had his pocket picked from behind by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins before he could get a shot away, helping send the game to the eventual extra session.

NOTES

It was the second of three meetings between the two teams this season. The Blues buried Edmonton 6-3 in St. Louis of Feb. 15. They will complete the season series on April 1 in St. Louis … The Blues came into the game having gone 4-1-1 in their last six road games in Edmonton and having won eight of the past 12 meetings against the Oilers overall … Blues defenceman Justin Faulk played his second game in as many nights after missing the previous 12 games because of a lower-body injury … Oilers blueliner Oilers Evan Bouchard came into the contest with an NHL-high 89 shot attempts of 145+ km/hour this season. That was an impressive 35 more than the NHL’s next closest player … With an assist in the second period, Bouchard hit 57 points on the season, the most by an Oilers defenceman since Paul Coffey had 67 points back during the 1986-1987 campaign.

UP NEXT

Blues: Return home to face the Minnesota Wild on Saturday.

Oilers: Head on the road for a one-game trip to play the Seattle Kraken on Saturday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 28, 2024.

Shane Jones, The Canadian Press