ST. LOUIS – Goals have been difficult to come to this season for St. Louis Blues left wing Jaden Schwartz. It changed every Tuesday night to Edmonton.
Schwartz had three goals and one help, David Perron added two goals and two helped, and Blues cruised to a 7-2 route by the Oilers.
Schwartz, who has 10 goals, did once in each period for his fourth career Hattrick and only since October 18, 2017 against Chicago.
"It's a nice feeling. Maybe you grab the stick a little less when you see a couple go in and see a little more of the net," he said. "Of course, the linemates and the other players made great games on these goals, and some nights they just find a way and others don't."
Alex Pietrangelo and Pat Maroon also did for Blues, who knocked out Edmonton 44-17 and improved to 6-1-2 in their last nine home teams against Oilers.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zack Kassian did for Edmonton.
St. Louis jumped out to a 4-0 lead before Oilers did twice in the second period. The Blues added three goals in the third.
Schwartz opened the score at 11:41 of the first. He got the puck in the corner, shook the left faceoff circle and lifted the puck from a bad angle over the goalkeeper Mikko Koskin's glove.
Perron received help after his takeaway in the neutral zone started playing, and extended his dash to 16 matches. Perron played his third game after missing 24 with an upper body injury. He has 20 points in the 16 games.
Pietrangelo scored his 13th goal 27 seconds in the second period. From the left side Schwartz passed to a wide open Pietrangelo in the castle. He stepped in and acted to the right before he left and slid the puck into the net.
Schwartz scored his second goal at 5:42 to make it 3-0. He fired a wrist shot from the left circle that struck Koskin's right pillow and trickled in.
"I think you need to relax a little. You feel more secure with the puck," Schwartz said. "Maybe find open areas a little more. I think that in some sport when you have a little more success it gives you a little better feeling."
The platform shot from behind the net at 7:14, making it 4-0.
The Oilers came on the table at 18:28 when Nugent-Hopkins scored from the right side, making it 4-1. It was only the 12th shot at Edmonton's goal.
It seemed the Blues rookie goaltender Jordan Binnington did, but after a replay review officials ruled the puck crossed the finish line. Nugent-Hopkins was awarded its 24th season.
Edmonton quickly scored a second goal 58 seconds later when the Cassia came around behind the net and drove the puck inside the post just above the finish line. His unassisted goal came at 19:27.
St. Louis made a power-play goal that was deflected from shot by Perron six minutes into the third period. It was his 20th season, the fourth time in his career he has reached the plateau. The last time he scored 20 goals came in the 2013-14 season when he was in his first season with Oilers.
"It's a hard loss," said Edmonton's coach Ken Hitchcock, who used to coach Blues. "We spent a lot of energy back in the game. The fifth goal was the killer for us. Against a good team, you can't take a penalty 200 yards from your net. Then we couldn't get it killed. We couldn't get the faceoff won."
Maroon stuck the puck in the right post at 13:22 and made it 6-2 with his fourth goal in his last six matches.
Schwartz made his third of the night on a power play at 18:48.
"Of course it will give him confidence," said Blues coach Craig Berube. "A player like that who hasn't created the way he wants and the way we expect him to, is tough. Getting a hattrick this evening gives him confidence.
Nugent-Hopkins did not like how Oilers played.
"It's not just special teams," he said. "They beat us 23-5 at one point in others. Our game is the best when we pre-check and we create loose pucks. Tonight we just got away from it a little and the other team did exactly that and they were rewarded for it . "
NB: Blues RW Vladimir Tarasenko returned to the game after missing out on five games with an upper body injury that occurred on March 7 against the kings. Without him, St. Louis 1-2-2. … Connor McDavid had his strike of eight consecutive multipoint games snapped. McDavid remains three points shy to tie his career up to 108, canceled last season. … St. Louis won the season series 2-0-1. … Edmonton fell to 16-17-5 on the road. … Binnington improved to 14-3-0 in its previous 17 starts.
Oilers: Hosta Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday.
Blues: Hosted by Detroit Red Wings on Thursday.