Instant Reaction: Winning streak snapped as Oilers lose in overtime in St. Louis

The Oilers thought they went up two, as Evander Kane momentarily got off the snide with a deflection goal. However, his stick was way too high over the crossbar, leading to a no-goal call. This was the 20th straight game for Kane without a goal.

The Oilers thought they went up two, as Ryan Nugent-Hopkins beat Jordan Binnington five-hole. However, Zach Hyman ever so slightly nudged the Blues’ netminder, leading the officials to reverse the goal, so it was still 1-0. Or if you don’t care about rules like me, it’s now 3-0 for the Oilers.

On a St. Louis power play, Brayden Schenn one-timed it from Leon Draisaitl’s typical position and beat Stuart Skinner to tie the game at one. This wasn’t Schenn’s only goal of the game, as the Blues’ captain showed some real fight for his team on Monday.

Interestingly, the Oilers challenged it, lost, and were assessed a penalty. The video below shows the two challenged plays back to back. Personally, I don’t think either should be called back, especially the Blues’ goal, as it doesn’t even look like the front player really did anything to hinder Skinner.

Early in the third period, the Blues jumped out to a 2-1 lead after the Oilers killed off a penalty. Bouchard made a poor read along the boards that led to a two-on-one. Schenn received a nice pass, leading to his second goal of the game.

However, the Oilers were able to tie it with about five minutes left. Connor McDavid made a terrific stick lift into a spin-a-rama and found Leon Draisaitl on the doorstep for the latter’s 39th goal of the season. McDavid really is just the best player of all time, even if he won’t be able to come even close to Wayne Gretzky’s scoring records.

It was all in vain though, as the St. Louis Blues won the game in overtime. Mattias Ekholm skated over a puck leading to a freshly changed Brandon Saad (who I learned today is still in the league) to score on a breakaway. Just brutal luck all around in a winnable game.

Things worth mentioning…

Connor McDavid picked up an assist in Monday’s game, bringing him to 126 points on the season. Nathan MacKinnon came into Monday leading in points with 127, and Nikita Kucherov tied him earlier in the evening. It’s going to come down to the wire.

Sam Carrick picked up his third point as an Oiler on Mattias Ekholm’s goal. The more I watch him and Henrique, the more I like the trade, despite giving up the first. Another notable play made by Carrick on Monday is when he engaged with Pavel Buchnevich along the boards, drawing him into also getting called for a cross-check. Just good stuff.

Evander Kane’s goal may not have counted, but that doesn’t mean that he wasn’t engaged. Early in the second period, he dropped the mitts with Tyler Tucker in a pretty fun fight. If he gets going in the playoffs as he did against Los Angeles a few games ago, watch out.

Up next: The Oilers return to action on Wednesday, as they’ll head to Dallas and face off against the Stars, in what could be a Western Conference Finals matchup. Puck drop is at 7:30 PM MT, and it’ll be an incredibly exciting game, hopefully.

INSTANT REACTION