TEAM SNAPSHOTS
BLUES David Perron is in pursuit of history as the St. Louis Blues head to Washington, DC to take on the Capitals. His six-game goal streak is one shy of the highest mark for a Blue in the past 25 years, an honor held by Mike Sillinger when he scored in seven straight games in the 2005-06 season.
The club's all-time record belongs to Brett Hull, scoring 16 goals during a ten-game streak in the 1990-91 season and 14 goals in another ten-game streak the following year.
Perron has made the most of this recent stretch, adding his seventh career hat trick - and second of the season - as his ninth, 10th and 11th goals over a nine-game span.
Unfortunately, Perron's hat trick was part of a bittersweet Saturday for the Blues, who fell 5-4 in Columbus. Another bright spot was Alexei Toropchenko, who scored his first career NHL goal in the second period.
"We scored four goals, that's enough goals to win a hockey game, for sure," said Blues Head Coach Craig Berube. "We gotta do a better job keeping (the puck) out of our net, and then penalties, too, a little bit. We gotta be more disciplined on penalties."
With the Blues' acquisition of defenseman Nick Leddy at the Trade Deadline, they'll look to shore up the blue line play as the Playoff race tightens over the next several weeks. Leddy arrived in Washington, D.C. and will be available to play Tuesday.
The Blues enter the game against Washington with a record of 34-18-9, good for 77 points and second in the Central Division as of Monday afternoon. After third-place Minnesota acquired goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury on Monday, the Blues will need to be at their best to stay in strong Playoff position.
The Blues return to St. Louis after their matchup with the Capitals for three straight games at Enterprise Center before taking a West coast road trip.
CAPITALS The Washington Capitals are clicking right now, winning seven of their last nine games entering Tuesday's game with the Blues.
The stretch included two wins against the Metropolitan Division-leading Carolina Hurricanes, a team the Blues will host next weekend.
Washington is coming off of a 3-2 loss at home to the Dallas Stars in which Alex Ovechkin recorded his 40th goal of the season on a second-period power-play goal. The future Hall-of-Famer is now on his own four-game goal streak as he continues making history this season.
Ovechkin's power-play goal on Sunday was the 282nd of his career, building his lead as the NHL's all-time best power-play goal scorer.
This year, Ovechkin has passed Marcel Dionne, Brett Hull and Jaromir Jagr to move into third place on the all-time goals leaderboard. With 40 goals this season, his 770 career total is just 31 shy of Gordie Howe for second, and 124 shy of Wayne Gretzky's record.
Former Blue T.J. Oshie has not played in the last two games as he deals with a lower-body injury.
The Capitals acquired forward Marcus Johansson for his second stint with the team as they make their Playoff push, with a record of 35-19-10 and a firm grip on the second Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference.
HEAD-TO-HEAD The Blues got the better of the Caps when they visited Enterprise Center earlier this year, winning 5-1 on Jan. 7. The Blues are 6-4-2 in the last 12 matchups between the teams but have not visited Washington since Jan. 14, 2019 - nine days before the 11-game win streak that sparked the Blues' Stanley Cup run.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
BLUES David Perron, as he tries to match Sillinger's goal streak. Perron is now second on the team with 21 goals this season, and his nine power-play goals lead the club by a wide margin.
CAPITALS Who else but Ovechkin? He has 76 points this season in 62 games played, marking his 12th year with at least 40 goals. Ovi is having his best season in years as he continues to try and hunt the history books.
BLUE NOTES
The Blues are 11-10-4 against the Eastern Conference this season... Jordan Kyrou reached a career-high 60 points with an assist on Saturday, his 38th of the season also a career-best mark... The Blues power play shares second in the NHL, moving to 26.3 percent on the season with two power-play goals on three opportunities in Columbus... They are on pace to set the franchise record for power-play efficiency in a season, previously 24.6 percent from the 1986-87 season.
Coming off a frustrating road loss, the St. Louis Blues will look to rebound against the host Washington Capitals on Tuesday night.
The Blues fell to the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-4 on Saturday night. Victories have been elusive for St. Louis recently, with the team losing its last three games (0-1-1) and seven of nine (2-4-3).
St. Louis will be without center Robert Thomas (upper-body injury) and right wing Vladimir Tarasenko (illness).
One bright spot for the Blues as of late has been forward David Perron, who's scored 21 goals and 19 assists this season and had a hat trick, the seventh of his career, against the Blue Jackets during Saturday's defeat.
Blues head coach Craig Berube touted Perron's offensive performance as something the rest of team could build upon.
"Right now he's hungry, he shoots the puck well, his work's paying off," Berube said.
Perron believes his team needs to shake off their recent slump and return to an offensive mindset.
"It's just getting back to playing the right way. ... That's playoff hockey, you go up, you go to work, it helps everyone out on the changes," Perron said. "It helps everyone out when they're (the defense) getting more tired, when we're in the O-zone.
"And it gives us momentum working, and it's fun working down there versus working in your D-zone. I just don't think we do that enough."
While the Blues have struggled, the Capitals have been racking up points, beating four of their last five opponents -- with three of those wins in overtime or shootout. Washington, after enjoying a four-game winning streak, lost 3-2 to the Dallas Stars on Sunday.
The Blues previously bested the Caps 5-1 when the two teams met in St. Louis on Jan. 7.
Washington will skate without some of its top players, who have been injured recently. T.J. Oshie is suffering from a lower-body injury, while center Nic Dowd (upper body) and defenseman Trevor Van Riemsdyk (upper body) are also hurt.
Forwards Joe Snively (wrist) and Carl Hagelin (eye) are on IR through April 15.
To make matters worse, Caps defenseman John Carlson may also be out after suffering a hit from Dallas' Jamie Benn in the waning seconds of the third period Sunday, when Benn shoved Carlson into the boards.
Washington head coach Peter Laviolette called Benn's hit on Carlson "dirty" and added that he hopes the NHL will investigate it.
"They have to," Laviolette said. "That's one of our best players."
Since the Caps have a depleted roster, they'll be relying more than ever on captain Alex Ovechkin, who scored a power-play goal against Dallas to reach the 40-goal mark for the 12th time in his NHL career, tying the legendary Wayne Gretzky.
Laviolette had nothing but praise for his team's icon.
"He's been consistent from start to finish with his game, a pretty incredible accomplishment," Laviolette said. "It's been a consistent thing that we've seen from training camp, right from the start of the season until now."
