Canucks at Blues
The Vancouver Canucks look to test their mettle against a bevy of Central Division heavyweights when they open a four-game road trip against the St. Louis Blues on Monday. After winning seven of nine, the Canucks suffered their second straight setback with a 4-3 overtime loss to Dallas on Saturday. Radim Vrbata scored his team-leading 30th goal with 72 seconds remaining in the third period against the Stars and also notched a pair of assists in the team's 6-5 shootout win over the Blues on March 1.
"When we go on the road, that's the big challenge that we've got coming ahead with Chicago, Nashville, St. Louis (and Winnipeg)," Canucks coach Willie Desjardins told the team's website. "You can play good hockey in their buildings and not win, but we've got to play well and, hopefully, we'll get something." While Vancouver holds a two-point lead over third-place Calgary in the Pacific Division, the Blues have dropped four of five (1-2-2) to fall three points behind the first-place Predators. Patrik Berglund scored and set up a goal by Vladimir Tarasenko in St. Louis' 4-2 setback to Columbus on Saturday.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, RSN Pacific (Vancouver), FSN Midwest (St. Louis)
ABOUT THE CANUCKS (43-27-5): Vancouver can hang its hat on its power-play success, as it tallied twice with the man advantage versus the Stars and has at least one such goal in five straight games. Chris Higgins joined Vrbata by providing the honors Saturday, and the Yale product has two goals and an assist in his last three games after being held off the scoresheet in each of his previous four. Higgins has recorded a goal and two assists in two meetings with St. Louis this season.
ABOUT THE BLUES (46-22-7): St. Louis may be without two key cogs in Monday's tilt, as Alex Steen suffered a lower-body injury following a knee-on-knee collision with Blue Jackets defenseman Cody Goloubef and T.J. Oshie sat out the contest with flu-like symptoms. Neither player skated with the team on Sunday, prompting coach Ken Hitchcock to deem the pair questionable to face Vancouver. Steen had scored five goals and set up three others during his last eight games and Oshie collected three assists in the last meeting with the Canucks.
OVERTIME
1. St. Louis G Brian Elliott has dropped three straight decisions and yielded seven goals on 32 shots in his last two outings.
2. Canucks G Eddie Lack owns a 4-0-0 record with one shutout and a 1.92 goals-against average in his career versus the Blues.
3. St. Louis has scored four power-play goals in its last four games overall and also converted with the man advantage in both meetings with Vancouver this season.