Senators at Blues
The St. Louis Blues had the makings of a promising start to their four-game road trip before sustaining back-to-back losses to drop below the NHL's version of .500. The Blues bid to get back on track Saturday when they host the Ottawa Senators before packing their bags once again to begin a five-game road trip.
"It was a good trip. I didn't like our game (in Thursday's 5-2 setback to Boston), but overall, the other games I thought we played really well," St. Louis coach Craig Berube said. "We just go home and regroup and we've got Ottawa (on Saturday) and we've got to get two points there." David Perron is riding a career-best 13-game point streak (six goals, 10 assists), which is the longest by a member of the Blues since Alex Steen's 13-game run in 2013 -- although he is barely halfway to the franchise record set by Hall of Famer Brett Hull (25) during the 1991-92 season. Matt Duchene has provided a jolt after returning from a three-game absence due to the birth of his son, scoring two goals and setting up another in Ottawa's 5-2 triumph over Colorado before setting up Bobby Ryan's tally two nights later in a 4-1 victory over Carolina. Defenseman Thomas Chabot also returned from an eight-game absence due to a shoulder injury and notched an assist against the Avalanche before logging a team-high 24:25 of ice time versus the Hurricanes as the Senators posted their fourth win in five outings.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, CITY (Ottawa), FS Midwest (St. Louis)
ABOUT THE SENATORS (19-24-5): With Anders Nilsson getting the nod on Friday, Craig Anderson is in line to start against St. Louis after sitting out the past 12 games due to a concussion. "Every few days now, we seem to be getting a player back, so it's very exciting for the players, for me, for everybody," Senators coach Guy Boucher said, per the Ottawa Sun. The 37-year-old Anderson, who last played on Dec. 21, turned aside 71 of 76 shots to drop both encounters with the Blues last season.
ABOUT THE BLUES (20-21-5): Ryan O'Reilly lamented the lost opportunity for St. Louis on Thursday despite scoring his 17th goal to pull even with Perron for the team lead. "Yeah it's a frustrating one," the 27-year-old O'Reilly said. "I had plenty of opportunities to impact the puck and didn't (on Thursday). It just seemed like it was the case for a lot of the guys." Jake Allen has struggled for the last three weeks, falling for the fifth time in seven outings after yielding four goals on 26 shots against the Bruins.
OVERTIME
1. St. Louis outscored Ottawa by a 7-1 margin to win both games last season.
2. Senators RW Bobby Ryan, who scored his team's lone goal in a 4-1 loss to the Blues on Jan. 18, 2018, has nine points (three goals, six assists) in his last nine games.
3. The Blues have lost 15 of 26 games (11-13-2) at Enterprise Center this season.