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Boyes' two goals help Blues down Oilers

Dec 8, 2007 - 6:11 AM EDMONTON, Alberta (Ticker) -- Brad Boyes scored two goals and Doug Weight netted his first tally of the season as the St. Louis Blues edged the Edmonton Oilers, 4-3, on Friday night.

Hannu Toivonen made 23 saves and Paul Kariya added a goal for the Blues, who have won five of their last seven contests.

With the game knotted at 1-1 in the third period, St. Louis scored two quick goals early to take control of the game.

On a power play, the Blues worked the puck around to Boyes at the top of the right faceoff circle, and he fired a one-timer past goaltender Mathieu Garon at 3:12 for a 2-1 lead. It was Boyes' second tally of the night and 17th of the season, matching his total from the 2006-07 campaign.

"I know Erik Johnson made a great play up top with a pump fake and then sliding it over," Boyes said. "We stepped up a little bit, got the puck to the net. Even in the third period when Dougie scores, it's putting the puck on net and it goes in. We didn't play well in Calgary (on Tuesday), and we didn't want this to snowball and carry over."

Weight then doubled the advantage just 54 seconds later, ending a 27-game goalless drought.

"I'm trying to play my game, and I feel like I've played good games and I've just never had the puck not go in, even for the other guy (I pass to)," Weight said. "I've had goal droughts, but I've always been rewarded with assists.

"The puck went in, and it's a great relief. Not just for me, but to contribute to a win. Now I can go on a roll. I felt better with the puck instantly."

Weight was looking to make a centering pass, but Edmonton defenseman Tom Gilbert prevented it with a sliding effort. The puck, however, bounced off Gilbert and found its way past Garon to give St. Louis a 3-1 advantage.

The Oilers halved the deficit with 7:44 left in the contest, when rookie Sam Gagner faked a slap shot and sent a perfect cross-ice pass to Robert Nilsson, who one-timed a shot past Toivonen to make it 3-2.

Kariya scored a much-needed insurance goal less than two minutes later. With Keith Tkachuk tying up three defenders, Kariya was able to launch a backhander past Garon with 5:45 remaining to restore the two-goal lead.

"We started the third period a little soft, and after that, it was a little too late to come back," Garon said. "We have to play better in the third period if we're going to win games."

Marty Reasoner made it interesting late, tallying his third goal of the campaign with 39 seconds left to draw Edmonton within 4-3. The Oilers, however, were unable to capitalize on a couple of last-second chances.

"We gave up four goals in the third period the other night and three tonight. That's seven third-period goals at home in two periods," Edmonton coach Craig MacTavish said. "That was our undoing. I thought tonight we were the product of some misfortune on two of those goals."

Boyes opened the scoring with 9:20 remaining of the first period, dancing between two defenders and snapping off a shot that beat Garon just inside the goalpost.

Garon turned aside 27 shots for the Oilers.