GAME RECAP: Oilers 4, Blues 3

EDMONTON, AB – Scorin' some Brownie points late in the game.

Winger Connor Brown scored two goals, including the winner with 21 seconds left in regulation, while captain Connor McDavid had three assists in his return from injury on Wednesday night to help the Edmonton Oilers pick up two important points in a 4-3 victory over the St. Louis Blues at Rogers Place.

Brown reached double-digit goals this season by tying the game early in the second period before scoring his 11th goal of the campaign late in regulation to complete the victory that moves Edmonton within one point of clinching their spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs after Calgary beat Anaheim in overtime.

"That's what it's about. Guys stepping up," McDavid said. "We've had different guys step up throughout this kind of injury bug and sickness bug, and a lot of guys are stepping up and playing good hockey and contributing. It hasn't been easy, but I've thought the guys have battled hard."

Vasily Podkolzin potted his eight goal of the season following Brown's equalizer, while Viktor Arvidsson notched his fourth goal in six games in the third period to make it 3-2 for the Oilers after Jordan Kyrou tied things up only 14 seconds into the final frame.

Darnell Nurse finished with two assists and clocked 28:06 of ice time as one of three defenceman who played above 28 minutes after the Oilers were forced to play with 12 forwards and five defencemen after Jake Walman (undisclosed) was a late scratch along with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (illness).

McDavid recorded three assists in his return from an eight-game injury absence to help a short-handed Edmonton team that was missing Leon Draisaitl, Mattias Ekholm, John Klingberg, Trent Frederic, Evander Kane and Stuart Skinner in addition to Nugent-Hopkins and Walman's omissions on Wednesday.

The Oilers can secure their playoff spot with a single point on Friday when they host the San Jose Sharks at Rogers Place.

"I think the level of belief is extremely high in our group," Brown said. "We understand that we've got a lot of dogs and guys that are hungry. Four games left, and you gotta punch our ticket still and continue to work."

FIRST PERIOD

Could it be? No. 97 in the lineup?

It'd been eight games for the Oilers without Connor McDavid due to injury, so when there were rumblings around the hockey world this afternoon of a potential return tonight from the game's greatest player, there was an added sense of excitment in Oil Country both from the players and fans about having their captain available for the opportunity to clinch a playoff spot on Wednesday against the League's hottest team since the 4 Nations Face-Off.

"I don't know how many more tight turns I could've done before I just had to go," McDavid said.

Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said McDavid was already close to making his comeback, and while it could've been pushed to Friday's visit from the Sharks, the captain made his case showing up to the rink this afternoon that he was ready and needed in the lineup – especially considering the Oilers were down another centre with Nugent-Hopkins doubtful to play because of illness.

Once the team's medical staff gave the all clear, there was no stopping it.

"He felt that he was ready and that it was as good as it was going to be, and he really wanted to be in the lineup tonight," Knoblauch said. "Obviously, he wouldn't have been cleared just because he felt he was ready to play. The medical staff felt that he was in good hands and that he wasn't going to create any more damage."

When you subtract McDavid, Edmonton's list of unavailable players still grew on Wednesday to include Nugent-Hopkins (illness) and Walman (undisclosed) while already bosting the names of Leon Draisaitl, Trent Frederic, Evander Kane, Mattias Ekholm, John Klingberg and Stuart Skinner.

"What I learned today is that it's a big unified group here – the medical guys, management, coaching staff and the players," McDavid said.

"The medical guys are always looking out for what's best for the player, as they always should be, and it's a player's job to be available and do his job. Everybody's just trying to do their job, and I thought the system worked well today with lots of communication with all groups. Unfortunately, I didn't get to do this [media] in the morning, so I apologize to you guys on that. But ultimately, it was a busy day for sure."

McDavid looked no worse for wear early in his first period since Mar. 20 against Winnipeg by creating a chance on his opening shift with linemates Connor Brown and Jeff Skinner before he used his speed a few minutes later to give Brown a dangerous opportunity to open the scoring on a wrap-around.

"We kind of knew that he was itching to play," Brown said. "He wants to play, he's itching to play, so we knew it was just a matter of time before they let him, so it wasn't until we got to the rink [that we found out]."

"We've been practicing with him, and him at three-quarter speed is quicker than all of us with the way he's crossing over and stuff," Brown said. "So I don't think there was any sort of concern over his ability when he got into the lineup."

"I think he's a true embodiment of a captain – unselfish, hard working and leads by example."

Before the period's midway mark, the intensity kicked up a notch when Jordan Binnington punched Corey Perry from behind after the veteran forward crashed his crease hard looking for a rebound, leading to the St. Louis netminder getting the extra minor for roughing and Perry dropping his mitts with former Oil Kings forward Jake Neighbours in a classic sequence from 'the Worm' getting under his opponents' skin.

"I just love watching him go to work, whether he's mixing it up or he's dangling behind the net," Brown said. "He's just a fun guy to watch and a fun guy to be teammates with. That was a healthy left hand [Binnington] gave him, so it was a bit of a melee after that."

However, on the man advantage, the Blues would take advantage of two missed calls from the officials to strike first on a shorthanded two-on-one.

Jeff Skinner was clocked in the face by Pavel Buchnevich right off the neutral-zone faceoff before the Oilers winger had his jersey pulled trying to chase down a potential odd-man rush for the Blues, where Ryan Suter was able to finish off the play to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.

That came much to the anger of the Oilers and Skinner, who was given a 10-minute misconduct for voicing his complaints to the referees before Edmonton's penalty kill needed to make a huge stop on a tripping penalty assessed to Connor McDavid late in the frame.

The Oilers were able to keep it a one-goal game after Calvin Pickard made two terrific saves shorthanded against Dalibor Dvorsky and Pavel Buchnevich in the final three minutes of the frame.

SECOND PERIOD

Keep it coming, Connor(s).

McDavid had two assists through 40 minutes on Wednesday to help the Oilers overturn their first-period deficit and take a 2-1 lead on the Blues at the end of the second period, starting with the captain's helper on Brown's 10th goal of the season just 1:30 into the middle stanza.

Brown intercepted a pass from Justin Faulk quickly off a draw in the St. Louis zone before he found Skinner in the left circle for a quick snap shot that rattled the post. But after the rebound fell to the slot, McDavid took the puck off Faulk by poking it back towards Brown, who was alone in front to beat Binnington short side and under the right arm.

"I thought that line played really well," Knoblauch said. "It starts with the offensive-zone faceoff. We were able to get a matchup that we wanted after an icing. They hound the puck, create a turnover and put the puck in the net, but I think all three of them felt very confident with the puck, especially McDavid, but Brown also made some nice little plays. Skinner had some opportunities.

"We needed a big bump from a line like that, and I thought they played really well."

The Oilers would continue their strong showing by getting rewarded with a 2-1 lead over half a period later on Vasily Podkolzin's eighth goal that came off some quick thinking in front of the Blues' crease by the Russian forward.

McDavid passed to Nurse for a one-timer at the top of the zone that was initially saved by Binnington before the Russian winger pounced on the rebound and buried a no-look backhand that lifted the Oilers to a one-goal lead that would last until the second intermission.

The Oilers scored both of their goals Monday's defeat to Anaheim by getting extra bodies to the net to create rebounds from point shots, and that trend continued on Wednesday by showing some savviness around the St. Louis crease on second efforts.

"We always want to get to the net. I think we did a good job of getting there," Brown said. "Also, I think our D did a good job of getting pucks through, so that's a huge factor."

Podkolzin now has 24 points (8G, 16A) this season and is two shy from tying his career high of 26 from the 2021-22 season while a member of the Canucks, and McDavid's two assists in the period were his 91st and 92nd points of the campaign.

THIRD PERIOD

You can never have have enough Connors in the lineup.

With the spotlight on McDavid making his return, there was still plenty of attention for Connor Brown to steal – including on the game-winning goal with only 21 seconds left on the clock – to help the Oilers earn all of the available points on Wednesday.

The third period didn't start fast for Edmonton, who quickly found themselves tied 2-2 when Jordan Kyrou was left wide open off a St. Louis zone entry to walk in from the top of the circle and score his team-leading 34th goal of the season only 14 seconds into the frame.

Less than two minutes later, the Oilers would get that goal back with an extra man during a delayed penalty, having Nurse's point shot stopped by Binnington before the rebound fell to Viktor Arvidsson to notch his 14th goal of the season and fourth goal in his last six games.

Nurse and Kulak each picked up assists on busy nights as two of the only five defenceman the Oilers had availabie on Wednesday.

"All five played really well in stepping up," Knoblauch said. "All of them played more minutes than they usually do; also the partners switching it up pretty much every shift, so a great job by those five. They put in a really good game and it's nice to see that. Kuly and Doc showed a lot of patience and got that puck on net that led to the Arvidsson goal, but so many good plays from them."

Things continued to go back-and-forth when Pavel Buchnevich scored on his second try under four minutes later off a scramble around Edmonton's crease, making for an exciting final three quarters of the frame where the Oilers needed every second available to come up with the last-gasp winner.

The Oilers and Blues played a large chunk of the final three minutes at four-on-four after McDavid took a holding penalty on Robert Thomas just three seconds into a power play that could've saw his team win the game on a late man advantage.

St. Louis could've changed their fortunes earlier in the period if Calvin Pickard didn't stop Kyrou on a breakaway before he denying Brayden Schenn from the slot during the four-on-four in the last minute. But after McDavid exited the box, he'd jump into the action off the rush and set up Brown to give the Oilers victory with only 21 seconds remaining.

McDavid got the puck on the right side from Adam Henrique and carried it with speed below the goal line, where he threw the puck in front for Brown to score his second goal of the game with a low shot along the ice that tucked itself inside the near post for the last-gasp winner.

PARTING WORDS

Knoblauch on the status of Jake Walman:

"He's just day-to-day. We hope he's playing Friday, but that might get pushed back a day or two. I think it'll be pretty soon."

"With Walman, it felt like he was questionable and did go on the ice, but just didn't feel quite like he was ready and that the time off would be beneficial for him. And certainly, with the timing of where we are right now only being a week or so away from starting playoffs, and we don't want to make anything worse and have somebody sitting on the shelf when that doesn't have to happen."

McDavid on making the choice to return tonight:

"We got a great medical staff here. I'm confident we're going to get everybody ready to roll when it comes time. Everybody's kind of on their own path. Everybody's kind of trying to do whatever they can to get ready. Part of that for me is getting into games and feeling the puck and getting into different situations that only a game can provide."