Canucks at Blues
The St. Louis Blues hope to have their top goal scorer back in the lineup Friday as they continue their surge toward a playoff berth when they host the Vancouver Canucks. Vladimir Tarasenko, who is three tallies away from his fourth straight 30-goal season, has missed two games with an upper-body injury but skated during Thursday's optional practice and could be on the ice against Vancouver.
"He felt good today," Blues coach Mike Yeo told the team's website on Thursday. "The next step is, we'll see how the morning skate goes tomorrow. If he's ready to play, then we have a spot for him, no question. We're anxious to get him back." St. Louis, which trails Anaheim by three points for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference, is coming off its third straight overtime victory - a 2-1 home triumph over Boston on Wednesday in which Jaden Schwartz scored his second goal of the game 30 seconds into the extra session. Vancouver has split the first two contests of its four-game road trip after ending its seven-game slide with a 5-2 triumph at Chicago on Thursday. Defenseman Alex Edler scored twice in the win, giving him three goals in as many games after he recorded only two over his first 59 contests this season.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, Sportsnet Pacific (Vancouver), FS Midwest (St. Louis)
ABOUT THE CANUCKS (26-39-9): Bo Horvat scored against the Blackhawks, giving him 20 goals for the second consecutive season. The 22-year-old center, who also registered an assist, joined rookie Brock Boeser (29) and Daniel Sedin (21) as the only members of the team to reach the plateau this campaign. Captain Henrik Sedin ended his 55-game goal-scoring drought on Thursday, tallying for only the third time this season and first since Nov. 14 at Los Angeles.
ABOUT THE BLUES (40-28-5): Brayden Schenn notched a pair of assists against the Bruins to raise his team-leading - and career-high - point total to 62. The 26-year-old center is one goal shy of matching the personal best of 26 he recorded in 2015-16 with Philadelphia but has scored just once in his last 13 contests. Schenn, who has landed on the scoresheet in four of his last five games, also tops St. Louis with 37 assists, eight power-play tallies and eight game-winners.
OVERTIME
1. Schwartz's multi-goal performance Wednesday was his third of the season and first since Nov. 25 versus Minnesota.
2. Barring a furious barrage over his last eight games, Henrik Sedin will finish with a single-digit goal total for the first time since recording eight in 2002-03.
3. St. Louis D Jay Bouwmeester needs two points to reach 400 for his career.