Nugent-Hopkins leads Oilers to 3-1 win over Blues

ST. LOUIS -

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored his 200th career goal to break a tie in the third period, Stuart Skinner stopped 35 shots, and the Edmonton Oilers beat the St. Louis Blues 3-1 Wednesday night.

“To be honest, I didn’t know it was 200,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “We just stuck with it the entire game. It was a hard-fought game the whole way through.”

Zach Hyman had a goal and an assist and Jesse Puljujarvi also scored to help the Oilers win their first road game after starting the season with a six-game homestand.

“I think we should be happy,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “We had a few little breakdowns. We had Stu when we needed him and the D-men made some big plays. The first one was a good one.”

Ryan O'Reilly scored for St. Louis and Jordan Binnington finished with 25 saves.

“You know, (we) played a pretty solid game,” Binnington said. “Unfortunate outcome, you know. Ultimately, we want wins. We’re hoping for wins. I think we’re gonna stay calm and keep building.”

Other than the O'Reilly goal, Skinner was outstanding.

“We got a great goaltending performance from Stuart Skinner,” Edmonton coach Jay Woodcroft said. “This was in a tough building. Nobody expects game like that more than Stuart Skinner himself. He has the confidence of the coaching staff. I started him because I thought he’d help us win the game.”

Nugent-Hopkins scored with 6:16 remaining with his fourth of the season to give the Oilers a 2-1 lead. Binnington made a big save on a shot by Hyman, but Nugent-Hopkins crashed the net and scored.

Blues coach Craig Berube was not happy with how Edmonton scored the game-winning goal.

“That goal we gave up, the go-ahead goal, that shouldn’t happen,” Berube said. “We’ve got numbers in there. We’ve got to win that. That play shouldn’t happen.”

Hyman added an empty-netter with 27 seconds remaining to seal the win.

The game was an early-season rematch after the Blues held the Oilers to a season-low 23 shots-on-goal en route to a 2-0 shutout victory last Saturday.

Puljujarvi got the Oilers on the scoreboard first at 6:07 of the opening period as he tipped Darnell Nurse's shot from center point past Binnington.

The Blues tied it with a power-play goal with 5 seconds left in the second period. O’Reilly batted in a rebound off Skinner’s leg for his first of the season.

St. Louis outshot the Oilers 20-6 in the second period.

“It was a lot of fun. I was trying to enjoy myself out there," Skinner said. “The guys made some amazing blocks for me. It was awesome. I was trying to find my groove as quickly as I could.”