The Edmonton Oilers were defeated 3-2 by the host St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Centre on Monday. With the victory, St. Louis ends a seven-game winless streak.
Andrew Mangiapane and Jack Roslovic scored to give Edmonton a 2-0 lead, before St. Louis stormed back with three unanswered goals from Dalibor Dvorsky, Pius Suter and Robert Thomas.
Oilers netminder Calvin Pickard made 19 saves, while St. Louis goalie Jordan Binnington stopped 24 of 26 shots he faced.
Edmonton now has a record of 6-5-3 for 15 points, tied for second most in the NHL’s Pacific Division standings.
Oilers Can’t Put Blues Away
It’s now nearly a month into the 2025-26 NHL season, and the Oilers have had only one or two games where they’ve played strong from beginning to end.
Over a nine-game stretch from Oct. 16-30, Edmonton gave up the first goal eight times and ultimately fell behind by at least two goals. The Oilers’ record during this span: 3-4-2.
In their three games since Oct. 30, the Oilers have scored the opening goal every time and built a two-goal lead twice. The Oilers’ record during this span: 1-1-1.
Monday was the latest example of Edmonton’s frustrating inability to put together a full 60-minute performance. The Oilers were ahead by two goals with less than four minutes to play in the second period, but somehow found themselves tied at 2-2 before the intermission, and wound up losing in regulation after Suter scored the winning goal at 18:38 of the third period.
“I thought we had a good start, I thought we had a good half, somewhere in there, and when they got their first one, obviously we got on our heels a little bit,” veteran Edmonton defenceman Mattias Ekholm said following the loss. “They got another one, but still, going back in from that second period, (we knew) that to win a game on the road, you’ve just got to win a period.
“I thought we had our looks, but we can maybe do a better job of imposing our will a little bit more in that third and earning that win more than we did tonight. We had some glimpses, but I think we can do more.”
This was already the fourth instance this season that the Oilers have held a lead of at least two goals in the second period or later and wound up either going to overtime or losing in regulation. Edmonton now has a league-high three losses after holding a multi-goal lead.
Another Horrific Moment From Bouchard
Speaking of that game-winning goal by Suter, he was free to bang a rebound home past Pickard after being left untouched by Evan Bouchard. The Oilers defenceman allowed Suter to position in front of Skinner and then just kind of stood there as he pounced on the puck after Skinner had stopped a shot from Colton Parayko.
Related: Has Oilers’ Bouchard Played Himself Out of a Spot on Team Canada?
Halloween may have come and gone, but the nightmare season continues for Bouchard, who this autumn has made one horrific mistake after another, often ending fatally for the Oilers. He now has a plus/minus rating of minus-9, tied for third-worst among all blueliners in the NHL.
To be fair, Bouchard was having a relatively solid game at Enterprise Center on Monday. Until 82 seconds remained, that is.
Roslovic Continues to Contribute
On a positive note for Edmonton, Roslovic continues his recent offensive surge. The 28-year-old centre collected his third goal of the season, giving his new team a 1-0 lead when he took a feed from Connor McDavid and went upstairs to beat Binnington during an Oilers power play in the first period.
After managing just one point – a secondary assist – over his first seven games with Edmonton, Roslovic now has three goals and two assists in the last five games, providing the kind of support scoring that the Oilers envisioned when they signed him on Oct. 8.
Monday was Roslovic’s second consecutive game with a power-play goal. He had barely played on the man-advantage during his first 10 games as an Oiler, but has quickly shown great chemistry on Edmonton’s top power-play unit with the likes of McDavid and Bouchard.
The Oilers don’t have any time to stew over this latest loss, as they are back in action right away on Tuesday (Nov. 4), visiting the Dallas Stars in a rematch of the last two Western Conference Finals.
