Pat Cannone

The last time the Oilers beat the Blues in St. Louis, Nikolai Khabibulin made 43 saves and the Oilers won 3-0. The Oilers then-top line of Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Jordan Eberle combined for eight points. That was in March of 2013.

Since then, the Oilers have lost four straight in St. Louis by a combined score of 17-8. But last night, the Oilers came back twice from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits to win 3-2 in overtime. The Oilers moved Nugent-Hopkins, normally a center, to the right wing on a line with Leon Draisaitl and Patrick Maroon, and were rewarded with the tying and winning goal from them. The St. Louis-native Maroon tipped in a shot in the third period, leading to a feel-good moment after the game when he was asked about his son, who lives in St. Louis, cheering him on.

Nugent-Hopkins was set up by Connor McDavid in overtime and the Oilers got the victory. TSN’s Ryan Rishaug appeared on Edmonton radio on Tuesday morning and said this about the win: “to be down multiple times to that team in a building where they never win… that’s definitely a ’big boy’ win. They didn’t come by that one easily.”

McDavid and Draisaitl now have a combined 70 points this season, the highest of any duo in the NHL. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are second with 68 points.

• The Tampa Bay Lightning have dealt with quite a few injuries this season, but out of injury springs opportunity. Jonathan Drouin has stepped up lately, and now there’s opportunity for Tanner Richard to appear in his first NHL game. Richard was initially supposed to make his NHL debut on Saturday night, but his plane was delayed in New York, which lead to him missing his connecting flight to Edmonton. With no chance of making it to Alberta for game time, Ricard was sent back to Syracuse. Richard told Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times that he was “devastated” to miss the game, but had an inkling that he could be recalled for Tuesday. When asked what he expects to bring to the Lightning lineup, Richard said “I’m pretty hated by most teams in the AHL, so that tells me I’m doing an alright job being a little rat.” Richard will play with Brayden Point and J.T. Brown on the fourth line.
• Also making his NHL debut tonight is Pat Cannone. The 30-year-old center has played 377 games in the AHL, notching 222 points. As Michael Russo put it, the debut will be one for the aged. Cannone has 16 points in 28 games for the Iowa Wild so far this season. Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said “Hey listen, I was in the minors so long, anytime you can bring up a young man to give him a shot at the NHL, I think it’s great.”
• According to Mark Lazerus, Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford is taking part in the team’s morning skate. We reported yesterday that Crawford could start as soon as Friday, which would be under three weeks since his appendectomy. Coach Joel Quenneville said he would like to see Crawford take part in a full practice before returning. While a morning skate is not as intense as a regular practice, it’s still a good step in the road back for Crawford.
• Notably absent from Chicago’s morning skate is center Artem Anisimov. Anisimov missed the Blackhawks previous game, and it’s not known if he will be in the lineup tonight versus the Senators. So far this season, he has 27 points in 34 games, which puts him on pace to easily surpass his previous career high of 42 which he set last season.
• After his gorgeous goal on Sunday night versus the Avalanche, where he one-timed a Mark Scheifele pass on a two-on-one, Patrik Laine told a Finnish newspaper that “from a chance like that, I will score 99 times out of 100. The stick will break once.” Laine has 18 goals and 29 points, one behind Scheifele for the Jets’ lead, and five points clear of Auston Matthews for the rookie scoring lead.