Jets at Blues
The St. Louis Blues know a lackluster start to the season led to this week’s coaching change, and under interim coach Craig Berube are taking on a tougher style of play as they enter Saturday’s home contest against the Winnipeg Jets. The Blues started two fights in the first 75 seconds on Friday and rolled from there in a 6-2 victory over Nashville in their first home game since Berube took over for the fired Mike Yeo on Monday.
The Blues, who began the day with the second-lowest point total in the NHL with 17, scored on three of their first eight shots as Ryan O’Reilly finished with a goal and an assist while Jake Allen stopped 26 shots. The Jets likely will not be in a good mood when they arrive, considering they have dropped consecutive games for the first time this season after blowing a two-goal lead in Friday’s 4-2 defeat at Minnesota. Patrik Laine continued his hot streak, scoring for the third consecutive game, but the Jets spent 12 minutes on the penalty kill and failed to convert a power-play chance late in the third period with the game tied 2-2. Winnipeg is 1-2-0 entering the final contest of its four-game road trip, allowing 10 goals in the two defeats.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, Sportsnet360, CITY (Winnipeg), FS Midwest (St. Louis)
ABOUT THE JETS (12-7-2): Laine scored his 14th goal of the season and sixth in the last three games, giving him 11 in November. Connor Hellebuyck, who was yanked after giving up three goals on nine shots in Calgary on Wednesday, shut out Minnesota for two periods before surrendering three goals on 15 shots in the third period. Nikolaj Ehlers scored his first goal in five games for the Jets, who may start Laurent Brossoit in goal on Saturday.
ABOUT THE BLUES (8-10-3): O’Reilly is making a huge impact offensively in his first season with St. Louis, as he leads the team in goals (11), assists (14) and points. One area of concern is the continued slump of Vladimir Tarasenko, who has not scored in 10 consecutive games and has registered just six goals and 17 points through 21 contests after finishing with 33 and 66 a season ago. Allen’s victory on Friday was the second in his last six starts.
OVERTIME
1. Winnipeg C Andrew Copp left Friday’s game in the third period with a potential head injury after being checked into the boards.
2. Blues LW Pat Maroon, who got into a fight in the early seconds of Friday's game, was activated from injured reserve earlier in the day while LW Jaden Schwartz was placed on IR with an upper-body injury.
3. Jets LW Kyle Connor and Laine each registered a goal and an assist as Winnipeg posted a 5-1 victory at St. Louis in the season opener on Oct. 4 .