EDMONTON — Connor McDavid had three assists in his return from injury, and the Edmonton Oilers won 4-3 against the St. Louis Blues at Rogers Place on Wednesday.
The Oilers captain, a last-minute addition to the lineup after missing eight games with a lower-body injury, came out of the penalty box and sent a short-side pass from below the goal line to Connor Brown for the game-winner with 21 seconds left in the third period.
“We kind of knew that he was itching to play. It was just a matter of if they let him,” Brown said of McDavid. “I think he’s the true embodiment of a captain. Unselfish, hard-working, leads by example.”
STL@EDM: Brown, McDavid team up again and grab the lead
Brown scored twice, Darnell Nurse had two assists and Calvin Pickard made 23 saves for the Oilers (45-28-5), who ended a two-game skid.
Edmonton played with five defensemen after Jake Walman was a late scratch.
“He’s day to day and we hope he can play Friday,” said Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch, whose team hosts the San Jose Sharks. “It might get pushed back a day or two.”
The Oilers, who went 4-4-0 without McDavid, remain third in the Pacific Division, two points behind the second-place Los Angeles Kings.
“It was a difficult situation for our group as a whole. Guys coming in and out of the lineup, sick, hurt, whatever it is,” McDavid said. “Short numbers, we had to go five D. It was a gutsy effort by them.
“It was kind of a crazy day for our group with not knowing who is going and whatnot. I was just happy to get in there.”
STL@EDM: Brown one-times McDavid’s interception into the cage and ties it up
Pavel Buchnevich had a goal and two assists, Jordan Kyrou had a goal and an assist and Robert Thomas had two assists for the Blues (43-30-7), who lost their second in a row after winning their previous 12 straight. Jordan Binnington made 19 saves.
“We didn’t do a good enough job covering McDavid, and we didn’t do a good enough job protecting our net front. The net-front battle was the difference tonight,” said Blues coach Jim Montgomery. “We’ve shown throughout here ever since 4 Nations that we’re a team that’s just going to keep coming. And I love that about our group.
“I thought the Thomas line was really dynamic, and they got all three goals for us. I thought ‘Buchey’ was really good, and I thought the line was really good.”
The Blues hold the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference behind the Minnesota Wild. Each team has 93 points, but the Wild have a game in hand.
Ryan Suter put the Blues ahead 1-0, scoring short-handed on a 2-on-1 at 8:44 of the first period. He took a cross-crease pass from Buchnevich and put a backhand shot over Pickard’s glove for his second of the season.
STL@EDM: Suter controls the dish from Buchnevich and pops in SHG
Brown tied it 1-1 at 1:30 of the second period with his 10th of the season. McDavid swatted the puck away from Blues defenseman Justin Faulk straight to his teammate at the right side of the net for the putaway, shortside on Binnington.
Vasily Podkolzin made it 2-1 Edmonton at 12:39, backhanding a rebound off a point shot by Nurse past Binnington’s left pad.
Kyrou tied it 2-2 just 14 seconds into the third period, with a snap shot from the slot that beat Pickard gloveside.
Viktor Arvidsson put the Oilers ahead 3-2 at 1:41, scoring on a rebound off a slap shot from the point by Brett Kulak, sliding it past Binnington’s pad off the right post from the doorstep.
Buchnevich tied it 3-3 at 5:25, pouncing on a loose puck in the crease and putting his own rebound past a sprawled-out Pickard to extend his goal streak to four games (four goals).
“It’s frustrating. We had a lot of looks, I had a lot of looks and I’ll be thinking about those tonight,” said Thomas, who has 22 points (four goals, 18 assists) on a 10-game point streak. “We’re a good third-period team, we’re always in it, we keep fighting and we gave ourselves a chance to win the game or get a point. It’s unfortunate, the way it ended.”
NOTES: McDavid became the seventh player in NHL history with at least five consecutive 65-assist seasons. The others are Wayne Gretzky (13), Peter Stastny (six), Guy Lafleur (six), Bobby Orr (six), Adam Oates (five) and Phil Esposito (five). … Thomas became the first Blues player to record multiple point streaks of 10 or more games in a single season since Brett Hull (12 games twice in 1996-97). … Suter scored his second goal of the season and first since turning 40 on Jan. 21. He became the third player aged 40 or older to score for the Blues, following Doug Harvey (Jan. 3, 1969 and Oct. 30, 1968) and Terry Harper (March 29, 1980) … Suter (40 years, 78 days) became the fourth defenseman to score a short-handed goal at age 40 or older, joining Zdeno Chara (March 23, 2017), Chris Chelios (Jan. 12, 2006 and Oct. 21, 2002) and Ray Bourque (March 20, 2001).
