Losing in regulation wasn’t the change in play I was hoping for, but Connor McDavid and the Oilers had different plans.

Game 5 of 82: Blues lose 3-1 to Edmonton in regulation

Goal: Yakupov (2)

With his whole family in attendance, with the exception of his dog, Nail Yakupov scored his second goal for the Blues on Thursday night. Only know the part about the dog because Panger brought it up about 4 times throughout the game. Anywho, 4 minutes into the 2nd period, Nail found space in the slot and got a pass from Edmundson from behind the net and flipped it in.

Then for the rest of the game, all I heard was McDavid this, McDavid that. Dude was all over the place, creating scoring chance after scoring chance. The 19-year-old center was named Edmonton’s captain this year, making him the youngest ever in the NHL’s history to receive that role. Probably deserving, but since this game was against the Blues, he’s more like a McJerkface.

Allen made some big saves throughout the night, but the game-winning goal was scored on a defensive breakdown. That goal that made it 2-1 Oilers in the 3rd; McJerkface zoomed into the offensive zone where both Petro and Bouwmeester slid over to defend him, leaving the backdoor open for Milan Lucic to slide it past Allen. Other than that, you have to like what we saw from Allen throughout the night. It’s just a shame that Talbot and the Oilers put on a block party.¹

In my opinion, Talbot was the difference maker in this game. To name a couple examples, he stoned Jaskin with a no-look pad save early on and stopped a wide open backhand attempt from Upshall. He did however get a lucky post, when Yakupov smoked it midway through the 3rd period.

It was a close game until McDavid got himself an empty netter to make it 3-1 late in the 3rd.

Quick Hits

• Nail Yakupov’s dad’s name is Rail. Pretty dope name but boy can I think of numerous inappropriate puns for that one.
• Oilers blocked 30 of the Blues shots Thursday night. Yikes.

GIF of the Game

“Think they regret trading you?”

Jaskin to Yakupov…probably. #stlblues pic.twitter.com/Ra5IE1kEgG

— Cristiano Simonetta (@CMS_74_) October 21, 2016

So far, so good with Yakupov. He’s playing fast, two-way hockey right now. He’s definitely on pace to score more than 20 goals, which I’m so humbly reminding you guys that I predicted.

Up Next

Bold prediction from last post was correct, but I didn’t hear any evidence of booing when Nail Yakupov was announced as the goal scorer. 50% is still a passing grade on my scale.

Anyways, another reunion is in the books on Saturday, when the Blues travel to Calgary (1-3-1) to reunite with Troy Brouwer and Brian Elliot. Brouwer has 3 goals with the Flames already, and sadly, that’s also the same number of losses Elliot has surrendered so far this season. I feel slightly bad for saying this, as Elliot was such a great goalie in his time in St. Louis, but he’s looked pretty awful so far this year. Also, he’s lost 6 straight if you count the WCF last year.

Bold Prediction: Yakupov scores again².

Not so Bold Prediction: Tarasenko scores.

The Blues get back in the win column with this one, winning 5-1.

1. See “Quick Hits” stat later.
2. Can you tell I’m a fan of his already?