The St. Louis Blues are among the best defensive teams in the NHL, but they've lost goaltender Brian Elliott indefinitely.

Getting the nod in his place will be rookie Jake Allen, who will try to help the Blues continue their dominance of the lowly Edmonton Oilers on Friday night.

The Oilers dropped to 0-11-2 against the West with Thursday's 1-0 overtime loss at Nashville. Jordan Eberle had a chance to end the slide, but he was stopped on a penalty shot 13 seconds into the extra period.

"We haven't been able to take many positives lately, where at the start of the season, we felt good about the way we played even though maybe we came out on the short end of the stick," coach Dallas Eakins said. "This one for the group was a step forward even though we couldn't get both the points."

Edmonton has averaged only 1.63 goals during its eight-game skid (0-6-2) and gone 3 for 27 on the power play. Eberle has no goals in six contests and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has none in eight games.

Taylor Hall has four goals and three assists in five career visits to St. Louis.

Oilers defenceman Justin Schultz and Martin Marincin will both be healthy scratches tonight, Oscar Klefbom and Keith Aulie will take their spots.

St. Louis (14-6-2) gives up 2.00 goals per game, tying Nashville for the league lead. Elliott is a big reason for that success, posting a league-best 1.82 goals-against average.

It's unclear when Elliott will get a chance to improve on that since he's out indefinitely with a lower-body injury suffered late in the second period of a 3-2 shootout loss to Ottawa on Tuesday.

Allen stepped in to stop 15 of 17 shots before giving up the only shootout tally in the third round.

"The goalies have been the heart and soul of our team and the biggest reason why we've been winning," left wing Alexander Steen said, "so it's tough to see a guy like Moose (Elliott) go down."

With Elliott out, Allen will likely carry the load and he's 6-2-1 with a 2.12 GAA and two shutouts in nine games. However, he has a 3.10 GAA while going 3-1-1 in his last five appearances.

He's expected to be backed up by Jordan Binnington, who was recalled from Chicago of the AHL on Wednesday while free agent Martin Brodeur will start practicing with the team Friday.

Binnington was 6-2-1 with a 1.89 GAA in the minors this season.

Tuesday's loss was just the second in nine home games for the Blues, who followed a 2-2-0 road trip by giving up a two-goal, third-period lead before falling to the Senators.

"The loss is one thing, but the way we played at times is disappointing, attention to detail and focus," coach Ken Hitchcock said.

Steen has snapped out of his funk, scoring two goals and assisting on two others over the past three games. He had there goals and eight assists through the first 19 after leading St. Louis with career highs of 33 goals and 62 points last season.

Steen has no goals in eight career home meetings with Edmonton, but he's managed six assists.

The Blues are 14-2-1 in their last 17 matchups with the Oilers (6-14-3), outscoring them 17-4 during a three-game sweep last season - including 6-2 in the only home matchup March 13.

They've won seven of the past eight in St. Louis, and that dominance seems likely to continue against Western Conference-worst Edmonton, which has lost eight straight.