Blues at Predators
St. Louis lost its scoring touch and it ultimately cost coach Mike Yeo his job as the Blues try to snap an eight-game losing streak in Nashville against the Predators on Wednesday. St. Louis fired Yeo on Monday and replaced him with interim Craig Berube, who must figure out a way to reignite an offense that hasn't scored in 142 minutes, 48 seconds.
"We have a lot of chances,” Blues forward Vladimir Tarasenko told reporters. “You can see it from upstairs too. Chances come off of hard work. It’s not from fancy chances or good plays. ... It’s hard to win when you don’t score goals.” Tarasenko is part of the issue as the 26-year-old Russian, who averaged 37.3 goals over the past four seasons, has six in 2018-19 while riding an eight-game scoreless streak. Nashville rebounded from its only losing streak of the season (0-2-1) that ended a five-game road trip by winning the first two of three straight contests at home, including a 3-2 victory over Tampa Bay on Monday that gave it an NHL-best 31 points. The Predators are 3-for-7 on the power play in their last two games, improving their second-worst league average to 13.6 percent after going 0-for-15 in the previous three contests.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, FS Midwest (St. Louis), FS Tennessee (Nashville)
ABOUT THE BLUES (7-9-3): Ryan O'Reilly has scored seven of his team-high 10 goals in nine November games with St. Louis getting shut out in three of those contests and also paces the club with 23 points. Alexander Steen (five goals) is day-to-day with an upper-body injury while Jaden Schwartz, who has two goals and nine points in 15 games this season after totaling 24 and 59 in 2017-18, is expected to miss his third straight contest (upper body). Jake Allen (5-5-3, 3.33 goals-against average, .895 save percentage) has yielded one goal in each of his last three games and is 6-5-0, 2.73, .915 in 12 games versus Nashville.
ABOUT THE PREDATORS (15-5-1): Ryan Johansen leads the team with 20 points (16 assists) after recording a goal and an assist Monday while Filip Forsberg (19 points) scored his club-high 13th goal of the season Monday. Pekka Rinne (8-2-1, 1.69, .942) leads the league in GAA and SP, and is 23-16-4, 2.02, .930 with four shutouts in 43 games versus St. Louis. Defenseman P.K. Subban (upper-body injury) hasn't played since leaving a 5-4 loss at San Jose on Nov. 13 and while he's eligible to return from injured reserve Wednesday, he hasn't been on the ice with the team since.
OVERTIME
1. The Blues are 0-for-14 on the power play over the last six games, falling to ninth in the league at 24.2 percent, while the Predators' penalty-killing unit is 13-for-14 in the past five contests.
2. Rinne won his 319th game Monday, tying him with Miikka Kiprusoff for most victories by a Finnish-born goaltender.
3. Nashville swept the four-game season series in 2017-18 after defeating St. Louis 4-2 in the 2017 Western Conference semifinals.