Blues at Blackhawks
The defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks hope to make the most of their only home contest during an eight-game stretch when they meet the St. Louis Blues on Sunday. Chicago wrapped up a three-game road trip with a 4-0 loss at Florida on Friday - its second straight setback since a franchise-record 12-game winning streak ended with a 2-1 defeat at Tampa Bay on Thursday.
"If you can win that many games in the row, especially against the teams we were playing against, you can take a lot of good things away from it," Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews told reporters. "We didn't do the right things the last couple of games and you see what happens." St. Louis had its three-game winning streak snapped Friday with a 2-1 shootout loss in Colorado - the second contest of a four-game road trip. "We're getting points," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock told reporters after his team allowed the tying goal with 54 seconds remaining in regulation. "That's all that matters. Right now we're getting points. Got to take this one when it gets to a shootout on the road with what we're dealing with. Pretty happy." The Blues, who trail first-place Chicago by four points in the Central Division, continue to receive solid goaltending from Brian Elliott as he is 5-1-1 with a .944 save percentage since No. 1 Jake Allen went down with a knee injury.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, NHL Network, TVAS; FSN Midwest (St. Louis); WGN (Chicago)
ABOUT THE BLUES (28-15-8): Alexander Steen (15 goals, team-high 27 assists) has scored twice in the last three games while Vladimir Tarasenko (club bests of 25 goals and 46 points) has only one tally in his last eight contests. Rookie defenseman Colton Parayko (six goals, 19 points), who missed Wednesday's 2-1 victory in Detroit because of illness, is a plus-5 with two assists in his last three games and is a team-high plus-18 after playing only 12:44 - including two shifts in the third period - versus Colorado. Defenseman Carl Gunnarsson returned to the lineup and played 20 minutes Friday after missing five games because of an upper-body injury while fellow blue-liner Robert Bortuzzo (lower body) didn't play for the third straight contest.
ABOUT THE BLACKHAWKS (32-15-4): Patrick Kane, who leads the NHL with 30 goals and 42 assists, recorded five goals and four assists in the four games prior to Friday. Artemi Panarin leads NHL rookies with 16 goals and 29 assists, but scored only once in his last nine games. Jiri Sekac made his Chicago debut after he was acquired via trade with Anaheim on Thursday and was a minus-1 while playing 11:19 on a line with Richard Panik and rookie Dennis Rasmussen.
OVERTIME
1. St. Louis hasn't scored a power-play goal in its last five games (13 tries) while the Blackhawks are 0-for-7 in their last three contests.
2. Chicago C Jonathan Toews trails only San Jose C Joe Pavelski (eight) in the NHL with seven game-winning goals.
3. The teams split a pair of November meetings with each winning on the road - the Blues 6-5 in overtime on Nov. 4 and the Blackhawks 4-2 on Nov. 14.