Blues at Sharks
The St. Louis Blues have unraveled over the past month but still remain in the playoff hunt despite winning only once in their last nine games. The Blues hope to take advantage of a four-day layoff on Thursday as they resume a four-game road trip at the San Jose Sharks in the first of three straight against Pacific Division foes.
"We need to take advantage of this week to put ourselves in a good position," St. Louis coach Mike Yeo said. "Now we have to find a way to ramp up the intensity and the energy level right off the hop because sometimes you have a bit of a long layoff and those are the things you forget about." The Blues fell to 1-7-1 in their last nine games after a 3-2 overtime loss at Dallas on Saturday and are two points out of the final playoff slot in the Western Conference. San Jose is locked in a three-way battle for second and third place in the Pacific, trailing Anaheim by one point and leading Los Angeles by two. The Sharks are midway through a six-game road trip, which they kicked off with lopsided wins over Edmonton (5-2) and Chicago (7-2) before dropping a 4-2 decision to Columbus on Sunday.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, FS Midwest (St. Louis), NBCS California (San Jose)
ABOUT THE BLUES (35-26-5): St. Louis got hit with a pair of costly injuries in Saturday's setback, losing defenseman Jay Bouwmeester for the season due to a hip injury and forward Scottie Upshall for a month with ligament damage to his knee. Yeo shuffled his lines at Wednesday's practice, sliding Kyle Brodziak between Vladimir Sobotka and Patrik Berglund, and pairing Oskar Sundqvist with Nikita Soshnikov and Tage Thompson. Defenseman Joel Edmundson, out since Feb. 8 with a fractured forearm, could rejoin the lineup on the weekend.
ABOUT THE SHARKS (35-22-9): Evander Kane scored his first goal since he was acquired from Buffalo on Sunday and has formed a potent line with captain Joe Pavelski and Joonas Donskoi, who have combined for 16 points in three games. "We've just been in sync," Pavelski said. "We've been taking pucks to the net. We haven't been messing around with it too much. Whether it's backing teams off or opening space up we've been able to make some plays." Donskoi snapped a 16-game goal drought in San Jose's 3-2 win at St. Louis on Feb. 20.
OVERTIME
1. The Sharks haven't scored on the power play in 12 straight games, failing on all 28 chances.
2. St. Louis is 1-for-20 with the man advantage over the past five games.
3. Sharks C Logan Couture has four goals in his last seven games, including one and an assist at St. Louis.