Blues at Blue Jackets
THE STORY: The Columbus Blue Jackets are planning on riding the Curtis Sanford wave as far as it will take them. The Blue Jackets have surged over the last five games with Sanford in goal, going 3-0-2 to briefly pull themselves out of the lowest point total in the NHL. Back at the bottom after the New York Islanders won on Saturday, Columbus has an opportunity to climb out of last place in the Western Conference if it can win a home game against the St. Louis Blues on Sunday afternoon. The Blues have gone on a surge of their own lately, posting a 6-1-2 record since legendary coach Ken Hitchcock took over the team. St. Louis has yet to fix an anemic power play, something Hitchcock vowed to address, but it has made up for it on the blue line and with some strong goaltending from both Jaroslav Halak and Brian Elliott.
TV: 6 p.m. ET, FSMW (St. Louis), FSOH (Columbus)
ABOUT THE BLUES (12-8-2): Since suffering its first loss under Hitchcock on Tuesday, St. Louis has bounced back with a pair of impressive victories. The Blues went into Pittsburgh on Wednesday and held Sidney Crosby off the score sheet en route to a 3-2 shootout victory and then came back on Friday and shutout the Calgary Flames, 2-0. Elliott was in net for both wins and is 5-0-0 in his last five turns. Captain David Backes has sparked the offense with four goals in the last five games.
ABOUT THE BLUE JACKETS (6-13-3): Columbus took a little while to get started but have picked up the pace considerably over the last two weeks. The Blue Jackets have won three of their last four and are getting strong play from Sanford, who did not have an NHL win since 2008 before taking over for Columbus in the middle of November. The Blue Jackets have broken out offensively over their last four games, scoring at least four goals in each of their three victories in that span.
OVERTIME:
1. Blue Jackets sniper Rick Nash scored twice on Friday - his first multi-goal game of the season.
2. Elliott is 2-0-1 in his career against Columbus with a 2.91 GAA.
3. St. Louis won four of the six meetings last season.