Oilers drop OT decision after review-filled game against Blues

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The Edmonton Oilers dropped a 3-2 OT decision to the St. Louis Blues on a stormy Monday night in Illinois. 

A tornado warning enveloped the area including St. Louis’ Enterprise Center, but it was a flurry of video reviews that wound up being the difference in this one. Edmonton had two goals taken off the board while a second-period marker from the Blues stood after further investigation. 

“I thought both of them were very close,” said Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch after the game. “It was unfortunate.”

The Blues jumped out to a 2-1 lead in the third period before Leon Draisaitl scored his 39th goal of the year and 99th point of the night late in regulation to force extra time. Alas, it wasn’t enough to get the win. 

Edmonton came into this game on a three-game winning streak and had a chance to clinch a playoff spot on Wednesday IF they won tonight. That streak will now reset to zero and the team will have to wait a little longer to get that “x” beside their name. 

Questionable calls

One could argue the NHL situation room in Toronto saw just as much action off the ice as the Oilers and Blues did on the ice tonight. A total of three goals were either reviewed or challenged in this one. 

The first was an Evander Kane goal in the first period that was eventually disallowed on a high stick to keep things 1-0 for Edmonton. 

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins then had a goal called back after the situation determined that, who else but, Zach Hyman made a little bit too much contact with Jordan Binnington before the goal. It honestly did not look like much. 

The only goal that withstood the review process was a Brayden Schenn goal for the Blues. Skinner protested that his pad was interfered with in front, but the situation room decided the contact was allowable this time. 

“It was a long game, I thought the refs had a couple of tough choices to make,” Skinner told reporters after the game. “I thought the guy interfered with me, really hard for the ref to see it… he kind of stuffed me in the pad… the shaft didn’t allow me to get my blocker down to the puck.”

The question remains: What exactly is goaltender interference?

Fighting frustration

Kane took out the frustration of his disallowed goal by dropping the gloves with Blues’ defenceman Ty Tucker. The 32-year-old power-forward landed a few good right hands to the head of Tucker before the pair tumbled to the ice. 

In another weird call from the officials, Kane wound up getting an extra penalty for taking off Tucker’s helmet. Not one you see called often in fights. The Blues wound up scoring the tying goal on the ensuing chance. 

Kane is in the midst of a brutal slump that has seen him go goal-less in his last 20 games. 

The Oilers pick up a point but see their record drop to 45-23-5 on the season. They are now five points back of the Vancouver Canucks for the top spot in the Pacific Division and five up on the third-place Vegas Golden Knights. 

It will be the surging Dallas Stars that Edmonton will have to take on next. The team will fly to the Lone Star State for a Wednesday night matchup.

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