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COMPLETE GAME COVERAGE

BLUES 5, OILERS 0

Chris Stewart (middle) scored twice in Edmonton, giving him six goals in his first five games with the Blues. That's the best mark in franchise history. Brett Hull now ranks second with five goals in his first five games (Getty Images).

 

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EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) - The St. Louis Blues' recent additions came up big against the Edmonton Oilers.

Ben Bishop stopped 39 shots for his first career shutout and Chris Stewart had two goals as the Blues beat the Oilers 5-0 on Friday night.

"To get your first shutout, that's something you always dream about," Bishop said. "I was able to see a lot of pucks and there were some key blocked shots. The guys did a great job in front of me.

"We needed the win too."

Bishop, called up from Peoria of the AHL on Feb. 17, was starting for the injured Jaroslav Halak, who missed his fifth straight game with a bruised hand.

"He made a great statement tonight," Blues head coach Davis Payne said. "He had to make some tough saves early. He was very solid. We were able to rely on him for a little bit until we were able to build the lead a little further.

"He's a young guy that we expect a lot from now and in the future. It was another great step for him tonight."

Payne has also been impressed with Stewart, acquired in a trade with Colorado last Saturday. The forward notched his third two-goal game in the five games with the Blues.

"This is why we got him," he said. "He can score in a number of different ways and he showed a couple tonight."

Patrik Berglund, Matt D'Agostini and Roman Polak also scored for the Blues, who have won four of their last six games.

The Oilers have lost two of their last three and remain in last place in the NHL.

"There needed to be more passion and emotion and contact," Oilers coach Tom Renney said. "We needed to drag ourselves into the game and we had a hard time doing that. ... It was a puzzling game. They scored on their opportunities and we kind of let them walk in and do that. And we couldn't capitalize on ours."

Stewart got the Blues on the board just 2:07 in as he skated in unopposed to lift a big rebound past Oilers goalie Devan Dubnyk.

Edmonton's Ales Hemsky clipped Barrret Jackman in the face with a high stick for a double minor late in the first and the Blues took advantage. Just as the first penalty expired, Berglund redirected Alexander Steen's shot into the goal.

Stewart's second made it 3-0 with a power-play goal at 4:19 of the second period as his shot trickled through Dubnyk's pads.

St. Louis had a good chance to make it a four-goal game with 5 minutes left in the second. Polak was sent in on a clean breakaway but couldn't slip the puck past Dubnyk.

Bishop continued to keep Edmonton off the board, making a big glove save on a short-handed 2-on-1 shot by Ryan Jones early in the third.

Oilers captain Shawn Horcoff left the game with 6 minutes remaining after being hit by a hard shot from teammate Kurtis Foster.

The Oilers broke down near the end of the game allowing a goal by Polak with 4:01 left and another by D'Agostini with 2:07 to go.

"It was a good team effort all the way around," Stewart said. "Bishop deserved the shutout and we had scoring from all four lines. It was a great team win."

NOTES: It was the third meeting of the season between the two teams. Edmonton won the first at home in December 2-1 then fell 5-3 at St. Louis two months later. ... G Nikolai Khabibulin was not in the lineup for Edmonton and is expected to be out a few days after getting an ice chip in the eye which has caused some bleeding. Martin Gerber was rushed in from Oklahoma City to serve as the backup for the game. ... Also missing from the St. Louis lineup was D Nikita Nikitin after he suffered a lower body injury in the first period against Vancouver on Thursday. ... The Blues have now scored at least one power-play goal in each of their last eight games, the first time they have done that since 2005. ... St. Louis is currently on a stretch that sees the team play seven games in 10 nights. ... The Oilers are 7-0-1 on nights when rookie Taylor Hall has a multi-point game.