The reviews Sunday of goalie Jaroslav Halak's first game back in the Blues' crease since Oct. 18 ranged from decent to not human.

After sitting on the bench for four consecutive games, Halak allowed four goals on 30 shots in a 4-2 loss to Edmonton. Two of the Oilers' goals were scored on power plays, however, and another went in off the skate of Jordan Eberle and stood up after a video review.

All in all, while Halak had some shaky moments on a night when his record dropped to 1-5, he flashed some big-league saves for the first time this season, the type of work the Blues have been waiting to see.

"I thought he played a decent hockey game," Blues coach Davis Payne said. "There was a lot of high-quality chances from some skilled hockey players that he faced and stopped."

Halak's teammates were even more complimentary after the game.

"We don't look to anyone but ourselves with this loss," Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk said. "Give kudos to Jaro, he played a great game. If you look at all four goals, it seems like we kind of hung him out to dry. He made some huge saves. It could have easily been 7-2, 8-2. That's one positive we take out of the game. It was good to see Jaro back in good form."

Added captain David Backes: "He lets in four goals, but a human goalie probably lets in seven or eight because (Edmonton) had awesome chances. He really bailed us out and he was back to his old form. We're going to need that for the rest of the season."

The Blues next play Friday, when they host Vancouver, then travel Saturday to Minnesota. Brian Elliott beat the Canucks 3-0 last Wednesday, so with games on back-to-back nights it's conceivable the club could start Elliott on Friday and Halak on Saturday. But it's more likely the Blues try to find out if Halak can build on what was at least a step in the right direction against the Oilers.

"I felt good out there," Halak said. "It still didn't bring me a 'W.' That is frustrating, but there's still a lot of hockey left. I just need to stay positive. The next practice we have, I have to work hard and prepare for the next game."

After returning from Edmonton in the wee hours Monday morning, the Blues took the day off and will be back on the ice in practice today. The four-day layoff matches the club's longest this season. It won't have another such break until mid-December.

The Blues will need the preparation time after watching their power-play unit continue to sag in western Canada. The group did get a goal from Alex Pietrangelo in Edmonton, but overall it went one for nine on the trip, including a 54-second five-on-three advantage in Calgary that came up empty.

The Blues' power play has been ranked last in the NHL for most of the season, but now with a larger sample size (three for 36, or 8.3 percent) the situation has gone from dire to worse.

On Sunday, Payne mixed up the power-play units, using his five-on-five forward combinations. On the team's first opportunity, the Blues' most productive five-on-five line this season — Alex Steen, Jason Arnott and Jamie Langenbrunner — was the first on the ice. The unit didn't score on its first two chances Sunday, falling to one for its last 30, but then Pietrangelo netted a man-advantage goal in the third period.

"It's a concern," Payne said. "We got the one, but we had a couple of key moments in the first period to grab a hold of the game (and didn't)."

Meanwhile, an improving Blues penalty-killing unit, which had allowed just one goal on its last 13 chances before Sunday, gave up two power-play goals to the Oilers.

"The first one, a clean bang-bang (play) like that, it's a mistake by us ... we've got to do a better job," Payne said. "The second one is a shot through traffic and a rebound that we need to find a way to get cleaned up as well."

After having their record fall to 5-6, the Blues have plenty to clean up.

"If you look at this trip ahead of time on paper and you're going to win one game, I don't think you circle the one in Vancouver," Backes said. "But it shows that we can play with some of the best teams in the league, a team that was in the (Stanley Cup) finals last year. We just have to (look at) every opponent as that team and make sure we're shutting them down defensively and don't have those lapses."