Blues at Wild
The St. Louis Blues are thriving in the realigned NHL Central and will look to continue their dominance against division rivals when they visit the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night. The Blues are coming off back-to-back victories over Chicago and Dallas to boost their record to 12-0-1 against Central opponents and sit in third place in the ultra-competitive Western Conference. St. Louis has dominated the series of late with the Wild, winning six in a row and the last two in Minnesota.
The Wild are mired in their worst stretch of the season, dropping five straight and suffering a rare home loss when they squandered a three-goal lead in a 5-4 defeat to the New York Islanders on Sunday. "It's hard to find the words for this because this is beyond disturbing right now," Minnesota coach Mike Yeo said after the latest setback. "We have to find a way to win that game. You're up 3-0 and you're at home. There's no excuses." The Wild have allowed a staggering 24 goals during the five-game skid.
TV: 6 p.m. ET, FSN Midwest (St. Louis), FSN North (Minnesota)
ABOUT THE BLUES (26-7-5): With leading goal scorer Alexander Steen sidelined by a concussion and captain David Backes sitting out Sunday's contest, Jaden Schwartz continues to plug the offensive void by scoring in five consecutive games. Defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk has also stepped up when it counts, scoring the decisive goal in Saturday's shootout win over Chicago before delivering the game-winner in overtime against Dallas. “It was something we realized early on, that the depth of this team was pretty strong,” Blues veteran forward Brenden Morrow said.
ABOUT THE WILD (20-16-5): Minnesota was riding a torrid 9-1-1 streak the last time it squared off against the Blues, but a 3-0 loss in St. Louis on Nov. 25 ignited a four-game winless drought from which the team has not recovered. The Wild are 5-11-1 in their last 17 games and have plummeted into a tie with Dallas for ninth place in the West. "Obviously, everybody is frustrated," said forward Nino Niederreiter, who had a goal and an assist against his former team Sunday. "We have a big game against St. Louis. It's a must-win for us."
OVERTIME
1. Blues G Brian Elliott (9-1-2) will start because Jaroslav Halak was under the weather Monday.
2. Minnesota called up D Jonathon Blum from Iowa of the American Hockey League. Blum played 35 games with Nashville last season,
3. Backes, who is second on the team with 16 goals, skated Monday and is questionable for the game.