ST. LOUIS — The Blues had five players ln the ice who had missed the team’s most recent game because of injuries. They were without another player from their most recent game who was out sick (though in this day and age it’s important to note it’s not COVID). They had a defenseman playing forward again and three skaters who have seen more AHL action than NHL action this season, including one who got off a plane around 3 p.m.
Old habits are hard to break.
The Blues' most successful line in the days preceding the extended Christmas pause had been the Russian line of Vladimir Tarasenko, Ivan Barbashev and Pavel Buchnevich. On Wednesday, Tarasenko was the only one still standing. Barbashev tested positive for COVID two days before Christmas and Buchnevich took ill in the afternoon. So coach Craig Berube had to put together a new line. The returning Robert Thomas was already going to be in Barbashev’s spot, and he added another of his comeback quintet, Jordan Kyrou in Buchnevich’s spot.
All three scored goals as the Blues beat the Oilers 4-2 before a sell-out crowd at Enterprise Center on Wednesday in their first game since Dec. 19 and their final one of 2021. The Blues have won six of their past eight and are 9-0-1 in their past 10 home games. Tarasenko, the only Blues forward to appear in every game this season, had a goal and two assists for his second three-point game in the past four games and nine points in that span. Next stop for the Blues is the Winter Classic in sub-zero temperatures on Saturday in Minneapolis.
In addition to Thomas and Kyrou, the Blues got back forwards David Perron and Klim Kostin as well as defenseman Jake Walman, who ended up being pushed into service as a forward because the Blues were short one.
Thomas, playing his first game since Dec. 4, got his first goal since Nov. 18. Torey Krug blocked a shot outside to get things started, and Kyrou flipped it ahead to Thomas, who had a two-on-none with Tarasenko. Thomas passed to Tarasenko, who had praised Thomas on Tuesday for being a selfless player who doesn’t care about scoring himself, and Tarasenko returned the favor, passing it back to Thomas practically on the goal line for his third of the season and a 1-0 Blues lead.
Kyrou made it 2-0 6:59 into the period. He took a cross-ice pass from Tarasenko and maneuvered around Edmonton’s Dmitri Samorukov as he entered the Edmonton zone. That left him alone on goalie Mike Smith and with Thomas drawing the attention of Evan Bouchard on the other side, he kept the puck and went into the top right corner for his 10th goal of the season, his first since Nov. 27, in his first game since Dec. 11. It also gave Tarasenko his fifth multi-point game in his past eight games and earned Samorukov a seat on the bench for the remainder of the game.
Edmonton got one of those goals back 32 seconds later from Leon Draisaitl, who skated to the top of the slot and shot through traffic and off the post for his league-high 24th goal of the season.
Alexei Toropchenko, who started the day in Springfield and didn’t get to St. Louis until the afternoon after it was decided Oskar Sundqvist wasn’t ready to play yet, drew a penalty in the first period, was called for one in the second, putting Edmonton’s league-leading power play on the ice, but the Blues killed it off.
Edmonton got the other one back with 8:11 to go in the second when Bouchard threw a non-threatening looking shot on goal from outside that Jordan Binnington couldn’t see around teammate Niko Mikkola.
But Tarasenko got the line’s third goal with 4:14 to go. Justin Faulk fed Kyrou, whose pass to Tarasenko sprung him past Duncan Keith and in alone on Smith, who after a bit of stick work he beat to the top left. It was a team-high 13th goal for Tarasenko.
The Blues started the third period with a power play, and needed 16 seconds to score. Perron shot, Smith blocked and Brandon Saad, who moved up into Buchnevich’s spot on the first power-play unit, was there to tap in the rebound for his 12th goal.
Edmonton came within inches, or a split second, of cutting the lead to one with 11:23 to go in the third. A shot from behind the goal line through the Blues crease went to Warren Foegele, but just as he shot Colton Parayko got his stick on Foegele’s stick. That threw off the shot’s trajectory just enough that it hit the pad of a sprawling-to-recover Binnington, and Mikkola then tucked the puck underneath for safe keeping and a whistle.
