Blues at Blue Jackets
The Columbus Blue Jackets are on the second-best overall run in franchise history and look to match their longest home winning streak when they host the St. Louis Blues on Saturday. Columbus has ridden a string of 10 consecutive victories to third place in the Metropolitan Division and can move past Pittsburgh for second with a ninth straight win at home, which would tie the club mark set from Nov. 29, 2016-Jan. 3, 2017.
The Blue Jackets, who are coming off a 4-0 home triumph over Florida on Thursday, have not lost since March 2 at Anaheim and haven't fallen at Nationwide Arena since suffering a 5-2 setback against the Penguins on Feb. 18. St. Louis also is surging as it posted a 4-1 victory over Vancouver on Friday to extend its winning streak to four games and pull within one point of Colorado for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference. Patrik Berglund scored a pair of goals and Vladimir Tarasenko also tallied in his return from a two-game absence due to an upper-body injury to help the Blues record their first regulation win after three straight overtime triumphs. Tarasenko leads the team in tallies and is two away from reaching the 30-goal plateau for the fourth consecutive season.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FS Midwest (St. Louis), FS Ohio (Columbus)
ABOUT THE BLUES (41-28-5): Jaden Schwartz set up a tally against the Canucks, giving him two goals and three assists during his four-game point streak. St. Louis could be without Carl Gunnarsson on Saturday as the defenseman exited the win over Vancouver with a lower-body injury, which he suffered when falling awkwardly into the boards following a collision with Bo Horvat. The 31-year-old Swede, who is three assists shy of 100 for his career, has registered five goals and nine points in 63 contests this season.
ABOUT THE BLUE JACKETS (42-28-5): Seth Jones returned to the lineup against the Panthers and scored a goal after missing three games with an upper-body injury. The 23-year-old defenseman has landed on the scoresheet in each of his last five contests, registering five goals and four assists to reach the 50-point plateau for the first time in his career. Brandon Dubinsky was a healthy scratch for each of the last two games but is expected to be in the lineup Saturday due to an upper-body injury to Lukas Sedlak, who was struck on the helmet by a puck during the win over Florida.
OVERTIME
1. Berglund has scored three goals in as many games after recording one over his previous 13 contests.
2. Columbus LW Artemi Panarin, who leads the team with 69 points, has registered six in his last three contests while notching 10 goals and 13 assists in his last 17 games.
3. St. Louis D Alex Pietrangelo has collected 12 points (four goals, eight assists) in his last seven games, registering four multi-point performances in that span.