The set-up: The St. Louis Blues are back from a 2-1-0 swing through western Canada, including a 4-1 win against the Oilers in Edmonton last Thursday. The Blues are back in St. Louis tonight to host those very same Oilers, who lost 6-3 on Saturday in Dallas and will be playing their second game of a five-game road trip. Disappointing Edmonton is 7-11-1 overall, including 3-4-2 on the road. In contrast, the 15-5-1 Blues (7-2-0 on home ice) have 31 points, tops in the West and just one behind New Jersey's NHL-leading 32 points

Edmonton: The Oilers are at the other end of the standings from the streaking Blues with just four regulation wins and 16 points through 20 games, which ranks next to last in the Western Conference. The team's biggest problem has been letting in too many goals (64), the third most in the conference -- and their minus-14 goal differential is the second-worst in the conference. "The goalies have to be better, the defense, the forwards, the coaches have to be better," head coach Todd McLellan told the Edmonton Sun. "None of us have lived up to where we need to be and that's why we're where we are in the standings. "I'm not going to single out the goaltender. It's team-wide."

St. Louis: The Blues will carry the Western Conference's best record into Tuesday game but head coach Mike Yeo has tried to downplay the team's spot atop the standings. "I try not to pay attention to it either," Yeo told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "You know, we talk about staying in the process through the game and it's the same way for the season. If we just keep showing up to the rink and making sure that we're prepared to play and playing good hockey, then we'll like where we're at at the end of the year." After joining his team during its three-game trip through western Canada, two-time All-Star defenseman Jay Bouwmeester is expected to make his season debut on Tuesday after sustaining a fractured left ankle while blocking a shot during training camp. Bouwmeester will be looking to help goalie Jake Allen, who turned aside 29 of 30 shots on Thursday to snap a personal three-game skid to the Oilers.

The pick: Allen may not need too much help, as Edmonton is averaging just 1.89 GPG on the road. Connor McDavid missed Monday's practice with an illness but McLellan wasn't so much concerned with his team's 27th-ranked offense as opposed to its 23rd-ranked defense. "The commitment to coverage. It's beyond goaltending. It's team-wide and it's something we need to fix," McLellan said. "We've addressed it many times. The group is going to have to respond at some point and finally get it." Cam Talbot yielded all four goals to the Blues in the first encounter after permitting that total (on 88 shots) en route to sweeping St. Louis in three meetings last season. As noted, the Blues are 7-2-0 at home so far, outscoring opponents 3.56-to-2.44 GPG. 'The shoe' is on teh other foot thsi season and I'll make teh Blues an 8* play.