The Vegas Golden Knights will try to maintain their West Division lead when they visit the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night.
The Golden Knights are two points up on the Minnesota Wild, who beat them twice earlier this week, and the Blues.
"Obviously this is a good team, probably up there with us and Colorado as the top team in the division," Golden Knights winger Ryan Reaves said. "We're coming off two losses that were big games for us, and we didn't play the way we wanted to."
The Golden Knights regained traction by defeating the Blues 5-4 in overtime Friday in the first half of their two-game set. The Blues are just 4-6-3 at home this season.
"We lose the game, we get a point, we're not happy with it," Blues winger Vladimir Tarasenko told Fox Sports Net after the game. "Tomorrow will be another day, another game."
The Blues have a seven-game point streak (4-0-3), but they have lost three consecutive games in overtime.
Meanwhile, the Golden Knights have won seven of their last nine games.
"We know it's a tough opponent, they play really well, they play fast," said Tarasenko, who scored a goal and added an assist Friday night in his third game since returning from offseason shoulder surgery. "We need to adjust faster tomorrow, match their pace, match their hits. It's going to be a battle.
"They're the best in the West right now."
The Blues are likely to turn to rookie Ville Husso (5-2-1, 3.48 goal-against average) in goal. The Golden Knights may counter with rookie Logan Thompson, who played 8:15 in relief of Marc-Andre Fleury Wednesday night in his NHL debut.
Goaltender Robin Lehner is close to returning to the Golden Knights from the injured list. He went on an AHL conditioning assignment this week.
In his absence, Fleury has started 15 games since Feb. 5. Fleury briefly went into COVID-19 protocol this week after a false positive test, but he did not miss any playing time before his reinstatement.
"Fleury has played amazing for us," Golden Knights winger Reilly Smith said. "But it's a lot to ask of him to play every game and to stand on his head like he's been doing."
The depleted Blues are still missing forwards Jaden Schwartz, Robert Thomas, Tyler Bozak, Ivan Barbashev and Jacob de la Rose due to various injuries. Key defenseman Colton Parayko is on injured reserve, and Carl Gunnarsson suffered a season-ending knee injury.
Tarasenko returned to action last Sunday to bolster the lineup, and forward Oskar Sundqvist came off the injured list Friday.
"He's a very versatile player," Blues coach Craig Berube said of Sundqvist. "We use him in a lot of situations obviously, different lines. He plays center, wing, different lines, different roles. He's been on the power play this year, penalty kills on a nightly basis for us, good checker, but he can also bring some offense. Very important player for our hockey team."
--Field Level Media