Blues at Sabres
The Buffalo Sabres finally ended their franchise-record losing streak earlier this week. Their reward: a date with the hottest team in the NHL, as they entertain a St. Louis Blues team Thursday night that has won six consecutive games to move within striking distance of top spot in the league. St. Louis extended its streak with a 2-1 overtime win over Tampa Bay on Tuesday, while the Sabres earned their first victory of 2015 with a 3-2 triumph over Montreal.
The Blues and Sabres met once before this season, and it was predictably one-sided as Jori Lehtera's first career hat trick guided St. Louis to a 6-1 victory. Buffalo surrendered three power-play goals in that contest, a fitting performance for a team ranked second-last in the league with a 74-percent penalty kill. That's actually a positive showing for the Sabres, who enter Thursday ranked last in goals per game (1.8), goals against (3.5) and power play (11.3 percent).
TV: 7 p.m. ET, Fox Sports Midwest (St. Louis), MSG-B (Buffalo)
ABOUT THE BLUES (33-13-4): Things aren't all rosy in Missouri, with All-Star defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk dealing with an abdominal injury that will have him out of action for several weeks. That has forced the Blues to shake up their pairings, with Alex Pietrangelo moving up to the first power-play unit and Ian Cole seeing the biggest bump in ice time. "I can do a little bit of everything," Cole told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch following Tuesday's practice. "I need to do all those things at a high level."
ABOUT THE SABRES (15-33-3): While Buffalo has put the brakes on its 14-game skid, everyone in the locker room knows that big changes are on the way prior to next month's trade deadline. "We've got some guys who could be very beneficial to some playoff teams," coach Ted Nolan told the Buffalo News earlier in the week. "I mentioned to a couple of them, the only way you're going to see that is not hoping but make it happen. Maybe somebody will see you and want you. If not, make us want you."
OVERTIME
1. St. Louis has won five straight meetings, outscoring Buffalo 19-5 over that stretch.
2. Blues F Vladimir Tarasenko has two goals and six assists in his last five games.
3. The Sabres have outshot opponents a league-low four times this season, going 3-1-0 in those games.