Coyotes at Blues
The bye week seemed to work wonders for the St. Louis Blues, who have won two straight after stumbling into the league-mandated break with three consecutive defeats. Locked in a three-way fight for supremacy in the Central Division, St. Louis opens a four-game homestand against the league-worst Arizona Coyotes on Saturday night.
The Blues surrendered a staggering 17 goals during the three-game skid (0-2-1) prior to their bye, but they yielded just a pair of tallies in road wins at Toronto and Ottawa. "When we describe what Blues hockey would be, that would be a pretty good example of it right there," St. Louis coach Mike Yeo said after his team limited the Senators to 21 shots in Thursday's 4-1 victory. The Coyotes have lost five straight, although four of the defeats have come by one goal. Arizona faces one of its biggest nemesis in the Blues, having dropped 12 in a row in the series and six straight visits to St. Louis.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, FS Arizona, FS Midwest (St. Louis)
ABOUT THE COYOTES (10-28-9): Goaltender Antti Raanta ended the 2017 calendar year by giving up at least three goals in five of his last six starts, but he has turned things around in January. Despite winning once in his past five starts (1-1-3), the 28-year-old Finn has turned aside 141 of 151 shots for a save percentage of .934. Richard Panik, acquired from Chicago in the trade for Anthony Duclair, has three points in four games with the team after setting up two goals at Nashville.
ABOUT THE BLUES (28-17-3): Carter Hutton was firmly entrenched as the backup when he earned the victory in a 3-2 shootout win over Arizona on Nov. 9 in his fourth start of the season. Hutton has since supplanted Jake Allen as the No. 1 netminder and has played superbly, posting a 5-0-1 record with a 1.78 goals-against average and .935 save percentage over his last six starts. Alex Steen scored the shootout goal in the first meeting and has 27 points in 28 games against the Coyotes.
OVERTIME
1. St. Louis needs one victory to become the eighth franchise with 1,800 wins.
2. Coyotes D Oliver Ekman-Larsson has points in three straight games.
3. Blues F Brayden Schenn has one goal and five assists in his past four versus Arizona.