Blue Jackets at Blues
Just a day after putting on a franchise record-setting offensive display, the Columbus Blue Jackets hope to have some magic left in their sticks Saturday as they attempt to extend their winning streak to four games when they visit the St. Louis Blues. Columbus handed Montreal its first regulation loss of the season in explosive fashion on Friday, scoring a club-record 10 goals in its third shutout victory in six games.
Cam Atkinson, Josh Anderson, Scott Hartnell and captain Nick Foligno netted two tallies apiece as the Blue Jackets became the first team to post a shutout when scoring at least 10 goals since Jan. 2, 1996, when Calgary accomplished the feat with a 10-0 triumph over Tampa Bay. St. Louis hopes to avoid a third consecutive loss as it kicks off its second three-game homestand of the season. The Blues went 1-1-1 during their first three-game string at Scottrade Center from Oct. 25-29 but followed that with back-to-back road losses to the New York Rangers and Dallas, getting outscored 11-2 in the process. Paul Stastny registered a goal and an assist in Thursday's 6-2 setback against the Stars to pull into a tie for the team lead in tallies (four) and points (nine) with Vladimir Tarasenko, who is mired in a seven-game goal-scoring drought.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FSN Ohio (Columbus), FSN Midwest (St. Louis)
ABOUT THE BLUE JACKETS (5-3-1): Alexander Wennberg had one of the best nights of his NHL career on Friday, collecting a personal-best four assists. The outburst put him in a tie with Foligno for the team lead in scoring with 12 points. Markus Nutivaara, a 22-year-old defenseman from Finland, recorded an assist against Montreal for his first point in nine career contests.
ABOUT THE BLUES (5-4-2): Tarasenko netted all four of his tallies in his first four games of the season, notching only three assists since. The 24-year-old Russian has scored at least 21 goals in each of the last three campaigns, setting a career high with 40 in 2015-16. Alex Steen remains one goal shy of 200 for his career after having what would have been the milestone tally waved off in Dallas on Thursday.
OVERTIME
1. The Blue Jackets own the league's best power play (11-for-25, 44 percent) after going 4-for-5 on Friday.
2. St. Louis has only three players with a positive plus/minus rating, with RW Dmitrij Jaskin leading the way at plus-2.
3. Columbus G Sergei Bobrovsky has registered three shutouts in his last six games, matching his total in 86 starts over the last two seasons.