from Scott Burnside of ESPN,

The good news for the St. Louis Blues is that netminder Brian Elliott returned to action after missing more than a month to injury and didn't appear to miss a beat, stopping 44 shots in the Blues' 3-2 loss to Nashville on Tuesday night. The bad news is that the normally stingy Blues gave up 47 shots and are now in a 1-4-1 funk over their last six games.

The Blues will have to decide what to do with veteran Martin Brodeur, who pitched a shutout in his last start against the Colorado Avalanche on Monday -- colleague Pierre LeBrun reports the Blues have told Brodeur he will start one of the next two games -- but the team has other issues in terms of consistency and overall play.

The Blues have allowed at least three goals in five of their last six games and been outscored 21-14 during that stretch. Although Vladimir Tarasenko has been a revelation with 22 goals and 39 points, only one other player -- line-mate Jordan Schwartz, who is injured -- has more than 10 goals.

The sideways action has seen the Nashville Predators and Chicago Blackhawks pull further ahead in the Central Division and allowed the Winnipeg Jets to move to within two points of the Blues.

continue for Custance on the Oilers, LeBrun on Eichel/McDavid and Strang on the Panthers...