Hurricanes at Blues
The St. Louis Blues look to continue lighting up the scoreboard when they vie for their fourth consecutive victory on Saturday against the visiting Carolina Hurricanes. T.J. Oshie and Jaden Schwartz have enjoyed their team's offensive surge and extended their point streaks to a career-high seven and six games, respectively, as St. Louis has sandwiched a pair of 7-2 victories over San Jose around a 6-0 rout of Arizona. "To me, the goals are a result of the way we're playing," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said after Thursday's win over the Sharks. "We're playing the right way, and it's having a big impact on keeping the group together."
Cellar-dwelling Carolina has improved its play of late, posting its third win in four games with a 5-2 triumph over Buffalo on Thursday. "I hope this is foreshadowing moving forward as far as the offense goes, that we can get beyond two and score some goals," coach Bill Peters said of the Hurricanes, who had netted two tallies or fewer in nine straight contests. Carolina has dropped seven of its last eight on the road and is just 3-10-2 with one tie in its last 16 visits to the Gateway City.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, FSN Carolinas, FSN Midwest (St. Louis)
ABOUT THE HURRICANES (13-24-4): Eric Staal has scored in each of the last two games but exited Thursday's tilt to follow concussion protocol before returning to practice on Friday without issue. The captain also tallied in Carolina's 4-2 loss to St. Louis on Nov. 16, 2013, and Nathan Gerbe did the same as well as scoring in the Hurricanes' 3-1 triumph on Jan. 31 to split last season's two-game series. Cam Ward was in net for Carolina's initial setback to the Blues but owns a 5-1-1 career mark with a stingy 1.54 goals-against average versus St. Louis.
ABOUT THE BLUES (25-13-3): Oshie collected a goal and an assist versus San Jose to increase his totals to six and seven, respectively, during his point streak. Schwartz, who matched a career high by setting up three tallies, has four goals and six assists during his run that had a seven-game absence due to a foot injury thrown in between. Captain David Backes, who has five goals in his last two games, scored in both contests versus Carolina last season.
OVERTIME
1. St. Louis has benefited from its top-ranked power play (26.4 percent), which has converted seven times during the winning streak.
2. Carolina is 3-for-6 with the man advantage over the last two games after going 1-for-19 in its previous eight contests.
3. Saturday's tilt will mark the first in which Blues assistant Kirk Muller will face the team he coached before being fired in May.