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Pre-Scout: All eyes on Nuge’s 1000th game, but the St. Louis Blues can be sneaky
Jan 16, 2026; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Blues right wing Jordan Kyrou (25) is congratulated by teammates after scoring the game winging goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the shootout at Enterprise Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Le-Imagn Images
Photo credit: Jeff Le-Imagn Images
Michael Menzies
Jan 18, 2026, 15:00 ESTUpdated: Jan 18, 2026, 14:57 EST
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All eyes and focus will be on the Edmonton Oilers and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins as he celebrates the terrific milestone of 1000 games. 
But in terms of the matchup tonight, the St. Louis Blues have been alright lately, after starting in the doldrums. 
In the last 10 games, the Blues are an even-steven 5-5, not truly pressing for a wildcard position in the Western Conference, but also not getting blown out every night. 
St. Louis will enter Rogers Place feeling good about snapping the Tampa Bay Lightning’s franchise record-tying win streak of 11 games on Friday night, with a 3-2 victory in the shootout. 
Bad luck or otherwise, the Blues had been 0-8 in games past regulation before Friday. 
“It feels great,” said Kyrou, who scored the lone goal in the shootout. “Obviously, we haven’t done that all year. It feels good to get that one.” 
The mini two-game homestand also saw St. Louis beat another top team in the Eastern Conference, a 3-0 shutout over the Carolina Hurricanes. 
Joel Hofer seems to give the Blues the best chance to win on a nightly basis, which doesn’t bode well for Team Canada and Jordan Binnington. Hofer’s goal against average is 2.76 with a .905 save percentage, and four shutouts. Binnington’s goal against average is 3.53 with a .871 save percentage. 
In his last ten starts, he’s 7-3, with two shutouts. Fanning out the games since American Thanksgiving, he’s providing nearly a .930 save percentage. Hofer’s game has rebounded after a shaky start. 

No doubting Thomas

Leading scorer Robert Thomas was placed on injured reserve this week and is expected to miss a bit of time. He’s one of just three Blues players to have double-digit goals this year, scoring 11 times and producing 33 points. The other two are Jake Neighbours and Justin Faulk. 
Pius Suter was shaping up to be an attractive trade target. But after suffering an ankle injury in late December, he’s been out for a few weeks and won’t be re-evaluated until late January. 
There was concern that former Oilers blueliner Philip Broberg could miss time with a concussion. However, it was just a one-game protocol that held him out of the lineup, as he played 25:15 and was +2 against the Lightning. 
Team Sweden chose him for the Olympics, and Doug Armstrong inked him to a six-year, $48 million contract extension last week. It’s pretty expensive for a defender who has yet to play 200 games, and offensively, has scored two goals and 15 points. 
The Blues did get reinforcements in the form of another former Oiler in Nick Bjugstad, who missed 15 straight games with an upper-body injury. He’s scored goals in back-to-back games upon his return. 

Start of the trip

Tonight kicks off three straight on the road, heading to Winnipeg on Tuesday and Dallas on Friday. Afterwards, the Blues will have a four-game homestand. 
The road has not been friendly to St. Louis. They are tied with Toronto for the fewest road wins in the league with seven. 
The Blues are also 31st in goal differential with a -43, having scored the fewest goals in the NHL with 120.   
Edmonton gagged away a two-goal lead on November 3 to lose 3-2 in regulation to the Blues in their lone matchup so far this year. According to Natural Stat Trick, the Oilers had an 8-6 advantage in High Danger Scoring Chances in all situations. 
They’ll play once more on March 13. 

Notes: 

  • Jake Neighbours has been streaky, but leads all Blues scorers with 12 on the year. He has a pair in his last three games. 
  • Former Oiler Dylan Holloway is close to returning to the lineup and will travel on this roadtrip. He practiced on Friday for the first time since suffering a high ankle sprain on December 14. 
  • Brayden Schenn’s best days appear to be behind him, as he’s struggled on both sides of the puck. He’ll be pressed to match last year’s point total of 50, as he has 19 points in 48 games with a -23. Only Brock Boeser has a worse plus/minus. 
  • In fact, three Blues are among the eight worst plus/minus stats in the league. Logan Mailloux is -21, and Cam Fowler is -19. You can debate the effectiveness of plus/minus as a stat, but it is interesting. 
  • By the way, Doug Armstrong is motivated to have every Blues defenceman signed for next season and beyond. Not only did he extend Broberg days ago, but he handed Mailloux a one-year extension mid-game this week. Remember, he gave Cam Fowler an extension in the pre-season, which baffled me. Is it just me, or is Armstrong determined to handcuff Alex Steen once he takes over the general manager job after the season? 
  • Speaking of Steen, he was one of three alumni inducted into the franchise’s Hall of Fame this week, going in alongside Barret Jackman and Al Arbour. 
  • The Blues have a bottom-10 power play at a 16.8 per cent success rate. They make up for it with a bottom-five penalty kill at 76 per cent. 
  • Edmonton is 5-3-2 in their last 10 vs St. Louis. They’ve won three in a row at home. 
  • Oilers’ record in the second of back-to-backs: 1-3-4. 
Michael Menzies is an Oilersnation columnist and has been the play-by-play voice of the Bonnyville Pontiacs in the AJHL since 2019. With seven years news experience as the Editor-at-Large of Lakeland Connect in Bonnyville, he also collects vinyl, books, and stomach issues.

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