GameRecap 2-25-11: Blues @ Oilers

If the small things truly make life special, then last night’s 5-0 St. Louis Blues victory over the Edmonton Oilers was a special moment in a rather dreary season. Newcomer Chris Stewart eclipsed Blues legend and Hall of Fame right winger Brett Hull’s team record for the most goals scored in the first five games in a Blues sweater. His two tallies gave the budding power forward goals number 5 and 6 since arriving in St. Louis.

Stewart’s first mark in the opening period was all that was needed as Ben Bishop recovered from his shelling against Chicago and stopped all 39 Oilers shots. The shoutout was his first in only his 9th career NHL start.

The power play continues to be dominant. Patrik Berglund’s redirect behind Devan Dubnyk in the second frame was his 17th of the season and extended the PPG streak to 8 games. During that stretch the Blues are 12 for 31 (37.8%). There is little doubt that the arrival of Stewart (net presence) and Kevin Shattenkirk (puck distribution) have been an enormous improvement over Brad Winchester and Erik Johnson in terms of creating havoc around the crease and quarterbacking the unit.

Speaking of power plays, the Blues had two 4 minute man advantages. One for Ales Hemsky not controlling his stick and whacking Barret Jackman in the eye. Luckily it just required a few stitches, but he was visibly woozy coming off the ice. Jordan Eberle earned the second double minor when he high sticked TJ Oshie.

Speaking of “injuries”, Nikita Nikitin and Phil McRae did not play. Though McRae was due to “coaches decision”, there was talk of an injury on Friday. Nikitin was out with a lower body injury. Alex Pietrangelo did leave the game for a time, but ended up with over 19 minutes played,

The other Blues goals came from Roman Polak (2) and Matt D’Agostini (13). D’Ags goal set a new career high, eclipsing his rookie season mark of 12 goals wit the Montreal Canadiens in 2008-09.

Cam Jansen and Jason Strudwick threw down at the end of the third period. 

-

As always, you are invited to follow @618_STLBlues and @BlueNoteZone on Twitter and on the BlueNoteZone Facebook Fan Page for in game updates and Blues news.