Blues at Wild
Earlier this month, the St. Louis Blues appeared to be the unlikeliest team to be sellers at the trade deadline, but a six-game losing streak has changed the landscape in the Central Division. One day after trading away Paul Stastny to division rival Winnipeg, the Blues will attempt to halt their swoon when they visit the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night.
"Two or three weeks ago I didn't envision this being an option today," said St. Louis general manager Doug Armstrong, who was unwilling to part with any of the team's top four prospects despite sitting one point out of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. The Blues have scored only six goals during the six-game skid and are coming off consecutive shutouts to Nashville and Winnipeg, which are running 1-2 in the Central. While St. Louis has stumbled, Minnesota is on a roll with four consecutive victories to climb into third place in the division. The Wild also decided to keep a low profile at the trade deadline, sending defenseman Mike Reilly to Montreal for a fifth-round draft pick and placing Chris Stewart on waivers.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Network
ABOUT THE BLUES (34-25-4): In exchange for Stastny, who was set to become an unrestricted free agent, St. Louis acquired forward prospect Erik Foley and a pair of conditional draft picks -- a first-rounder in 2018 and a fourth-rounder in 2020. Foley, currently playing at Providence College, was a teammate of current Blues forward Tage Thompson when Team USA won the 2017 World Junior championship. "I'm glad it's over," coach Mike Yeo said of the trade deadline. "The way I see it, for the first time in a long time we finally have nothing to lose."
ABOUT THE WILD (35-20-7): The four straight wins, including a perfect three-game road trip, made general manager Chuck Fletcher feel comfortable going forward without trading. "You just want to be careful," Fletcher said. "You can bring certain players in, and then who gets bumped off the power play, or who gets moved down in the lineup. We didn't feel that anybody was a significant upgrade." Forward Eric Staal sparked the four-game winning streak with four goals and seven points to earn NHL First Star of the Week honors on Monday.
OVERTIME
1. Wild G Devan Dubnyk is 8-13-2 with a 3.19 goals-against average versus St. Louis.
2. Blues D Robert Bortuzzo is doubtful for Tuesday's game, Yeo said at Monday's practice.
3. Wild F Jason Zucker has six points in his last four games and had a goal and an assist in a 6-2 win at St. Louis on Feb. 6.