Red Wings at Blues
The slumping St. Louis Blues may have hit rock bottom last time out, and they will attempt to bounce back just 24 hours later when they host the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday. The Blues have lost seven straight games (0-6-1) for the first time since 2009-10 after Tuesday’s humbling 8-3 loss at Minnesota and have fallen out of a playoff spot in the Western Conference.
“We’re not going to let people take away from the pride and the culture that we have here," St. Louis coach Mike Yeo, whose team opened the season 10-2-1, told reporters after the loss. "Obviously, this is a difficult stretch and I am anxious to see who is ready to respond the right way.” The Red Wings still are hanging on in the playoff race, sitting seven points behind Columbus for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference after winning two straight games and earning a point in three in a row. Detroit opened a critical five-game road trip Sunday with a 3-2 overtime victory over the fading New York Rangers as Jimmy Howard turned aside 36 shots. “We’re still there,” Howard told reporters after making his fourth consecutive start. “We haven’t been put away yet and we’re going to continue to try and grind out wins.”
TV: 8 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Network
ABOUT THE RED WINGS (26-26-10): Detroit made one deal at Monday's trade deadline, sending the 27-year-old Tomas Tatar to Vegas for first, second and third-round picks as it attempts to clear space for its promising younger players. “I am trying to build a team here that somewhere down the road can compete for the Stanley Cup,” general manager Ken Holland told the Detroit Free Press. “It has to be done through the draft. Now there’s more draft picks, more assets.” Dylan Larkin has recorded four assists in the last four games to push his team-leading total to 47 points.
ABOUT THE BLUES (34-26-4): St. Louis has been outscored 29-10 during its losing streak and allowed a total of eight first-period goals over its last three contests. Vladimir Tarasenko scored twice in Tuesday’s loss to give him five goals in his last eight games and a team-leading 26 on the season - two more than All-Star Brayden Schenn, who tops the Blues with 56 points. All-Star defenseman Alex Pietrangelo recorded the other tally for St. Louis in his 599th NHL contest to snap a six-game point drought and reach double digits in goals for the second straight season and fourth in his career.
OVERTIME
1. Detroit LW Andreas Athanasiou is warming up with two goals and two assists in his last four games.
2. St. Louis RW Nikita Soshnikov registered six shots over his first two games with the team but has yet to post a point.
3. The Blues recorded a 6-1 triumph at Detroit on Dec. 9 to improve to 3-0-4 in the last seven meetings.