The St. Louis Blues will try to snap a three-game losing streak this afternoon, when they welcome the Edmonton Oilers to the Scottrade Center.

The Blues were in action Friday evening in Chicago and wound up dropping a 3-1 decision to the Blackhawks. Radim Vrbata's two first-period power-play scores provided enough spark to send Chicago to the win at the United Center.

Lee Stempniak and Keith Tkachuk were the only players to register points for the Blues, who have lost six of their last seven games. Curtis Sanford took the loss, halting only 15-of-17 shots.

St. Louis winger Dallas Drake missed his second straight game with a sore foot and defenseman Dennis Wideman sat out his third game with a sore hand. Both players are questionable for today's contest.

After this afternoon's test the Blues will embark on a five-game road trip. The swing begins Tuesday evening in Calgary and will also feature stops in Edmonton, Vancouver, Columbus and Detroit.

Meanwhile, the Oilers ended a four-game losing streak with Friday's triumph in Columbus. Ryan Smyth netted a pair of goals to guide Edmonton past the Blue Jackets, 4-1, at Nationwide Arena.

It was the third multi-goal game of the year for Smyth, who has 10 tallies on the season. The veteran winger has seven points (5g, 2a) over his last six contests.

Joffrey Lupul and Ales Hemsky also lit the lamp for the Oilers, while netminder Dwayne Roloson stopped 26 of the 27 shots he faced.

Edmonton, which is 2-5-1 on the road, will complete its five-game road trip Monday evening in Colorado.

Tonight marks the first meeting of the season between the Oilers and Blues. St. Louis won three of four matchups last year.

Goaltender Manny Legace teared up in his homecoming, but it was the Detroit Red Wings who probably felt like crying.

``It was nice to be back in front of the fans,'' Legace said. ``I saw some signs in the warmup, it brought some tears to my eyes. They missed me and that touched me. They treated me well here. I love it here. My summer home is here. It was a good homecoming.''

Petr Cajanek scored twice for St. Louis, which beat Detroit for only the third time in their last 16 games, and Dallas Drake added two assists. Legace stopped 41 shots in his first game back at Joe Louis Arena after signing with the Blues as a free agent during the offseason.

Legace lost a 3-2 decision to Detroit in St. Louis on Oct. 28.

``It's always nice to get the first goal in a shootout, especially when they go first and miss,'' Rucinsky said. ``It's really hard for the other team to catch up. It was a pretty big win for us.''

Henrik Zetterberg had a goal and an assist, and Nicklas Lidstrom also scored for the Red Wings, who are winless in their last four games. Hasek made 17 saves.

Detroit defenseman Chris Chelios passed Phil Housley to become the leader in NHL games played by American-born players with 1,496. The milestone came against former U.S. Olympic teammates Weight, Keith Tkachuk and Bill Guerin. Chelios captained the squad last winter in Turin, Italy.

Lidstrom tied it 2-2 on a power-play goal with 8:17 left in the third period, when he put in a cross-crease pass from Pavel Datsyuk.

Legace stopped Kris Draper's tip attempt from about five feet in front of the net with 2:25 left in regulation.

Red Wings' coach Mike Babcock credited Legace, who was in net for Detroit when it was upset in the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs by the Edmonton Oilers last spring.

Cajanek's first goal opened the scoring 1:24 into the second period, when he beat Hasek with a wrist shot from the top of the right circle. Zetterberg tied it at 4:03, when he tipped in Jason Williams' pass. Cajanek restored St. Louis' lead at 7:14, when he scored from the high slot.

``The two points are huge for us,'' said Cajanek, who returned after missing three games with a hip injury. ``I hope we can keep going like this. Every goal helps build the confidence. It's definitely nice to score two goals against a guy like that. It's huge.''