Jaroslav Halak makes 19 saves to lead St. Louis Blues past Edmonton Oilers 3-0

EDMONTON – Jaroslav Halak only needed to make 19 saves to record his third shutout of the season as the St. Louis Blues came away with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday.

Chris Stewart, Alexander Steen and T.J. Oshie scored for the Blues (17-11-2), who have won six of their last eight games.

The Oilers (11-12-7) have lost three of their last four, although two of those were in extra time.

The Blues took a 1-0 lead just over three minutes into the game as Stewart elected to shoot on a three-on-two, beating Oilers starter Nikolai Khabibulin with a long wrist shot from the top of the circle for his 15th of the season.

There were very few other chances in a rather sedate first period as the Blues had six shots and the Oilers only four on Halak.

The second period was just as snooze-inducing as the first with no scoring.

Khabibulin had to deal with the tougher chances of the two goalies, needing to make a kick save on a shot by Stewart and another heads-up save on a tip by T.J. Oshie.

The shots favoured the Blues 19-12 after 40 minutes.

The Blues went up by two goals three minutes into the third period as Steen took a shot that went off the end boards, but was able to swat in his own rebound before Khabibulin could get back into position.

St. Louis gave themselves a cushion with nine minutes remaining as Oshie took a pass in full flight in front of the net and made a nifty deke before scoring on the backhand to make it 3-0.

The Blues conclude a three-game road trip in Calgary on Sunday. The Oilers hit the road for their next game on Monday in Nashville.

Notes: It was the second of three meetings between the two teams, with the Blues taking the first match-up 4-2 at the beginning of March. They conclude the series in St. Louis when the Oilers visit on Tuesday … The Blues entered the contest with a 10-1-1 overall in their last 12 games against Edmonton … The Blues are in a stretch of playing eight of 11 games on the road … Both starting goalies were making their first appearances in a while as Blues goalie Jaroslav Halak made his first start in goal since March 10. Khabibulin made his first start for Edmonton since Feb. 25 … Oilers centre Ryan Nugent-Hopkins missed his second straight game with the flu and may be forced to miss his team’s two-game road trip. A decision will be made on Sunday morning. Fellow centre Eric Belanger made his return to the lineup from a groin injury to take his place … Oshie returned to the St. Louis lineup from a rib injury.