Halak, St. Louis Blues blanks Oilers

ST. LOUIS -- T.J. Oshie and his Blues teammates feel as though there's still something left to play for, even if they'll miss the playoffs for the fifth time in six seasons.

Jaroslav Halak needed to make only 12 saves to earn his sixth shutout of the season, and Oshie had a goal and an assist in the Blues' 4-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night.

"Pride. Playing for the guys next to you," Oshie said. "Obviously, a huge part of it is playing for the fans that have supported us all year, even in our darkest hours when we weren't playing very good there. ... We'll play for them and from here on out and the guys sitting next to us."

Oshie and the Blues came into Thursday night's game 12 points out of eighth place in the Western Conference with only nine games remaining.

It was a matchup of conference foes who are well out of the playoff picture, with the Blues winning for only the second time in six games (2-4) while extending the Oilers' winless streak to eight (0-6-2).

Matt D'Agostini, Chris Stewart and Adam Cracknell scored third-period goals for the Blues, who avoided falling below .500 for the first time this season.

"It was a game that could have really gone either way in those first two periods," Blues coach Davis Payne said. "We didn't play our kind of hockey for the first two periods. Good thing we did in the third."

Nikolai Khabibulin took the loss for the Oilers, who have scored only seven goals during their skid. Edmonton's shots total matched a season low and the Oilers didn't register a shot in the third period until there was 1:08 remaining in the game.

"It's real disappointing," Oilers defenseman Jim Vandermeer said. "But I think if we stick to the game plan by taking pucks to the net and get traffic there, it doesn't matter who we have in the lineup and who we play with and who we play against. To do that consistently, you're going to get opportunities."