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Oilers-Blues Preview

Mar 27, 2010 - 6:31 PM By MIKE LIPKA STATS Writer

Edmonton (24-43-7) at St. Louis (35-30-9), 6:00 p.m. EDT

The St. Louis Blues can point to their performance at home as a major reason why they're unlikely to reach the postseason.

The Edmonton Oilers' road woes, meanwhile, have helped drop them to the bottom of the NHL, and they'll play four straight and six of their final eight games away from home starting Sunday at St. Louis.

Even after their 3-1 win over Los Angeles on Thursday night, the Blues (35-30-9) have the NHL's worst winning percentage at home, where they've gone 13-18-5 to all but ensure they won't make their second consecutive playoff appearance.

A double-digit deficit separates St. Louis from the Western Conference's top eight, but Blues interim coach Davis Payne was holding out some hope after beating the Kings.

"We're going to keep on winning hockey games," said Payne, who has gone 18-13-3 since replacing Andy Murray on Jan. 2.

"Until they tell us we're not eligible (for the playoffs), we're going to make sure that hey, if there's fight left in us, we're going to put it out there, here at home (or) on the road," the coach added. "Stranger things have happened and we intend to keep winning until the games run out."

The Blues used a 30-save effort from Chris Mason to beat the Kings as the goalie snapped a personal three-game losing streak. Mason has been outstanding against the Oilers throughout his career, going 4-0-2 with a 1.62 goals-against average.

Ty Conklin was in net for the Blues' lone loss in three meetings with Edmonton this season, a 5-3 home defeat on Dec. 11 - the Oilers' fifth straight win in St. Louis.

At the time, the Edmonton also picked up its fifth consecutive road victory overall, but that seems like a distant memory after the club's 1-16-1 stretch on the road since.

The Oilers' only road win in that stretch was a 3-2 shootout victory at Los Angeles on Feb. 11, and they've dropped all six away from home since the Olympic break. Their 8-24-3 overall road record is easily the worst in the league, and is on pace to be the worst in franchise history.

Edmonton (24-43-7) opened its recent homestand with three straight victories, but finished on a sour note with Friday night's lackluster 3-2 loss to Anaheim.

"It started off looking exactly like it was, two teams out of the playoffs and not caring how much they worked for the night," Oilers coach Pat Quinn said.

"If we have an attitude like that, even one single guy, then we have losers. That's the attitude you don't want any time. You can be in 30th. But you don't have to like it or play like a 30th-place guy."

Jeff Deslauriers was perhaps Edmonton's best player against the Ducks, making 37 saves. He stopped 27 of 30 shots in the victory at St. Louis earlier this season.