Oilers forward Drake Caggiula celebrates a third-period goal against the St. Louis Blues at Rogers Place on Thursday, Dec. 21, 2017.Perry Nelson/The Globe and Mail
Drake Caggiula scored the go-ahead goal at 19:10 of the third period as the Edmonton Oilers won their third game in a row for the first time this season, defeating the St. Louis Blues 3-2 on Thursday.
Caggiula took a pass in front from behind the net by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and beat Blues goalie Jake Allen with 49.8 seconds left on the clock.
Michael Cammalleri and Connor McDavid also scored for the Oilers (16-17-2), who have won four of their last five games.
Tage Thompson and Patrik Berglund responded for the Blues (22-13-2), who have lost three in a row and five of their last six.
The Blues had the best chances in a scoreless first period, outshooting Edmonton 11-5. Edmonton had a good chance midway through the second, but a Darnell Nurse shot hit a post and slid through the crease under a diving Allen to safety. It was the Oilers' fourth post of the game to that point.
The scoreless deadlock continued through 40 minutes with the shots favouring the Blues 26-19.
Paul Stastny had a glorious opportunity seven minutes into the third when he stole the puck from Cam Talbot behind the net, but the Oilers goalie was able to make a desperate leap to prevent the wrap-around attempt.
The Blues finally scored with 10:30 left in the third period as Thompson got a shot through traffic past Talbot for his first career NHL goal.
However, Edmonton tied it up 38 seconds later on a wrist shot by Cammalleri.
St. Louis regained the lead with 6:38 left, as Berglund scored on a one-timer, but Edmonton came flying back once again as McDavid waited for Allen to go down before lifting in his 13th goal of the season with 3:41 left.
Both teams return to action on Saturday as the Oilers host to the Montreal Canadiens and the Blues travel to Vancouver to face the Canucks.