Blues at Stars
Having finally put an end to a seven-game losing streak, the St. Louis Blues attempt to move closer to a playoff slot when they visit the Dallas Stars on Saturday afternoon in the opener of a four-game road trip. The Stars are in fourth place in the Central Division and hold down the top wild-card spot in the West, three points ahead of St. Louis.
The Blues rebounded from an 8-3 drubbing in Minnesota on Tuesday with a 2-1 win over Detroit 24 hours later, their first victory since Feb. 9. “We needed it,” St. Louis coach Mike Yeo said. “We needed this feeling. It’s not going to get easier, that’s not the case, but certainly it should help for guys to loosen up a little bit. We’ve been tight." Dallas has lost four of six (2-3-1) since a 2-1 victory over the Blues on Feb. 16, dropping a 5-4 overtime decision to Tampa Bay on Thursday in the third of a five-game homestand. The schedule does not favor the Stars following the homestand, with 11 of their final 16 games on the road.
TV: 2 p.m. ET, FS Southwest (Dallas), FS Midwest (St. Louis)
ABOUT THE BLUES (35-26-4): In an effort to shake his team out of its slumber and provide any kind of spark, Yeo resorted to sending out his fourth line of Scottie Upshall, Kyle Brodziak and Chris Thorburn to start the game versus Detroit. The move paid off as the unit scored 72 seconds into the game on a goal by Upshall -- his first tally since Dec. 30. "Those guys are workers. Those guys have had success this year," Yeo said. "We needed guys to step up and I believe those guys were ready."
ABOUT THE STARS (36-23-5): Mattias Janmark scored in the final seconds of regulation Thursday against Tampa Bay and also has been productive against the Stars this season, scoring a goal in three of the four matchups. Tyler Seguin scored twice against the Lightning to extend his goal-scoring streak to four games and boost his season total to 34 tallies -- three shy of tying his career high. Seguin has 11 goals in his last 13 games overall but has been held off the scoresheet versus St. Louis this season.
OVERTIME
1. The Blues and Stars have split the first four meetings this season, with the home team prevailing in each.
2. Stars G Ben Bishop has won both starts and Kari Lehtonen has lost both versus St. Louis this season.
3. G Carter Hutton is expected to start for St. Louis, which has scored 12 goals in its last eight games.