(SportsNetwork.com) – The St. Louis Blues will try to press on without their
No. 1 goaltender on Friday night as they play host to the struggling Edmonton
Oilers.
The Blues lost Brian Elliott to a lower-body injury in Tuesday’s 3-2 shootout
setback to the Ottawa Senators. Elliott stopped all 16 shots he faced before
exiting late in the second period after a scrum for a loose puck in the
crease.
While it is unknown how long Elliott will be out, he has been termed “week-to-
week” by head coach Ken Hitchcock and the goaltender was placed on injured
reserve on Wednesday.
Elliott is 8-4-1 with a 1.82 goals against average and .931 save percentage
this season, but it appears 24-year-old Jake Allen will carry the load from
here on out.
Allen made 15 saves in losing Tuesday’s contest and is 6-2-1 with a 2.12 GAA
and .920 save percentage in nine games this season. He’ll be backed up by 21-
year-old Jordan Binnington, who has never played in an NHL game.
However, veteran Martin Brodeur is expected to practice with the Blues on
Friday and could end up signing with the club.
Allen could see action on consecutive nights as the Blues visit the Minnesota
Wild on Saturday. He has faced the Oilers just once before and gave up three
goals on seven shots in just 25 minutes of work to take a loss.
St. Louis plays its second straight at home before hitting the road for four
in a row. The Blues split a four-game swing ahead of the loss to Ottawa,
putting forth an effort termed disappointing by Hitchcock.
“The loss is one thing, but the way we played at times is disappointing,” said
the coach. “Attention to detail and focus. Coming back, we took a day off, get
re-energized. I thought our focus was really inconsistent, poor at times
execution, not even close to what we played on the road.”
Unfortunately for the Oilers, they have been consistently bad this season.
They come in on an eight-game losing streak, their longest skid since going
0-8-3 from March 8-31, 2011.
Edmonton notched a tough-luck loss on Thursday night to the Nashville
Predators, falling 1-0 in overtime. Filip Forsberg scored the winner for the
Preds with 1:05 left in the bonus frame.
The Oilers opened overtime on a power play and were awarded a penalty shot 13
seconds into the frame when Nashville defenseman Shea Weber closed his hand on
the puck while in the crease.
However, Jordan Eberle saw his chance to end the game denied by Pekka Rinne’s
left pad.
Viktor Fasth ended with 24 saves for the Oilers, who are 0-11-2 against the
Western Conference this season.
“I think we played a really good game today, but unfortunately we couldn’t get
two points,” Fasth said.
Fasth finished with 24 saves for the Oilers, who lost their eighth consecutive
game.
Edmonton lost forward Matt Hendricks to a leg injury after he blocked a shot
in the first period.
Ben Scrivens could start tonight for the Oilers and is 2-1-0 with a 3.66 GAA
and .888 save percentage in four career games versus the Blues with three
starts.
The Oilers were outscored 17-4 in losing all three meetings with the Blues
last season and have lost eight of nine and 14 of the last 17 encounters.
Edmonton has dropped seven of its last eight in St. Louis as well.
