Wild at Blues
The St. Louis Blues have a grand opportunity to create hay in the Central with three straight and nine of their next 12 contests against division representatives. The Blues look to start that stretch on a positive note when they bid to continue their home dominance over the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday.
A winner of four of five overall, St. Louis improved to 15-2-3 in its last 20 contests versus Minnesota at Scottrade Center with a 6-3 triumph on Nov. 25. Vladimir Tarasenko set up a pair of goals in that contest and had an assist in a 2-1 overtime loss to the Wild on Dec. 2, extending his point streak versus the club to five games (three goals, three assists). Minnesota followed up a stirring victory over expansion Vegas by falling flat in Saturday's 6-1 rout in Dallas to begin a two-game road trip. Jason Zucker scored his team's lone goal, giving him a point in eight of his last nine outings (six goals, two assists).
TV: 8 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Network
ABOUT THE WILD (28-19-5): Matt Dumba scored 39 seconds into overtime to subdue St. Louis in December, giving the defenseman three points (one goal, two assists) in the season series. Mikael Granlund set up Zucker's tally on Saturday to increase his point total to 19 (eight goals, 11 assists) since Dec. 27. Devan Dubnyk surrendered two goals on nine shots in relief of Alex Stalock versus the Stars, but the former owns just a 7-13-2 mark with a 3.25 goals-against average and .893 save percentage in 22 career starts versus the Blues.
ABOUT THE BLUES (32-19-3): Carter Hutton turned aside all 27 shots he faced in Saturday's 1-0 victory over Buffalo, improving to 4-0-0 with two shutouts, an 0.50 goals-against average and .984 save percentage in his last four starts. The 32-year-old stymied Sam Reinhart with a brilliant pad save with 23 seconds remaining in the third period to preserve the victory. "He's a battler," former Wild coach and current Blues bench boss Mike Yeo told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch of Hutton. "A lot of his best saves seem to come at times when the game is on the line."
OVERTIME
1. St. Louis C Brayden Schenn, who is one point shy of 300 for his career, has nine points (one goal, eight assists) in 11 career meetings with Minnesota.
2. The Wild have yielded at least one power-play goal in eight of their last 13 road contests.
3. St. Louis LW Alexander Steen has recorded 13 points (three goals, 10 assists) in his last 13 games versus Minnesota.