BLUES The St. Louis Blues will look to extend their franchise-best 14-game point streak even further on Saturday night when they meet the Arizona Coyotes.
Since March 28, the Blues are 12-0-2.
"We've put a good series of games together," Blues goalie Jordan Binnington said after a 3-1 win against the San Jose Sharks on Thursday. The win bested the team's previous record of 13 games, set during the 2014-15 season.
Binnington made 20 saves in the Blues' win against the Sharks to improve to 4-0 with a 1.75 goals-against average and a .944 save-percentage in his last four starts. Robert Thomas (15 games), Pavel Buchnevich (12 games) and Vladimir Tarasenko (eight games) all extended their point streaks.
Thomas has the longest active point streak in the League.
"Our guys have played really well," Blues Head Coach Craig Berube said after Thursday's win - his 154th behind the bench, which moved him ahead of Brian Sutter for third all-time in team history. "I think they're dialed in, winning games in different types of ways. It was a tighter one tonight, but we came through and closed it out at the end."
The Blues played Thursday's game without defenseman Torey Krug, who sustained an upper-body injury in the morning skate. Krug is labeled as day-to-day, and his status for Saturday's game against the Coyotes is currently unknown.
COYOTES The Arizona Coyotes were unable to find the back of the net Friday in a 2-0 loss to the Washington Capitals.
The game was tight, though - the Capitals had just a 1-0 lead in the final minute before John Carlson sealed it with an empty-netter.
The Coyotes have dropped nine straight games (0-8-1) and are last in the League standings with 50 points this season.
HEAD-TO-HEAD Saturday's game will be the Blues' final trip to Gila River Arena in Glendale. The Coyotes are moving to the Multi-Purpose Arena currently under construction on the campus of Arizona State University in Tempe beginning next season.
The Blues are 2-1-0 against the Coyotes this season and 4-3-0 in their last seven trips to Gila River Arena.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
BLUES Pavel Buchnevich, who extended his career-best point streak to 12 games on Thursday in San Jose with a goal and an assist. Since his point streak began, Buchnevich has eight goals and 14 assists. He became the third Blue to eclipse 70 points this season.
COYOTES Phil Kessel, who has four assists in his last five games. Kessel ranks third on the club in points this season (48).
BLUE NOTES
The Blues have eight 20-goal scorers this season, the most in the League… The Blues' power play ranks second in the League this season at 26.6 percent. The club is 36-10-5 when scoring at least one power-play goal this season… With his next power-play goal, Tarasenko will tie Al MacInnis for sixth in franchise history with 64… St. Louis native Clayton Keller, who leads the Coyotes with 63 points this season, is out for the year after undergoing surgery for a fractured leg.
The surging St. Louis Blues will continue their push for home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs when they visit the reeling Arizona Coyotes in Glendale, Ariz., on Saturday night.
The Blues (47-20-11, 105 points) are set to face the Minnesota Wild in the opening round of the Western Conference playoffs. Second-place Minnesota holds a two-point edge on St. Louis in the Central Division after posting a 6-3 win over the expansion Seattle Kraken on Friday night.
The Wild and Blues each have four games remaining.
"It's something to look forward to," Blues forward Robert Thomas said. "Business isn't done in the regular season, so we can't get ahead of ourselves. We want to play in front of our fans. We know how important that is at playoff time. We love playing at home, especially in the playoffs. So the work's not done."
The Coyotes (22-50-6, 50 points) fell for the 16th time in their last 18 games (2-14-2) with a 2-0 setback to the Washington Capitals on Friday.
Thomas enters this game with a 15-game point streak for the Blues, who have earned points in 14 straight games while going 12-0-2. He has eight goals and 19 assists during that span.
"Obviously it's hard not to think about it," Thomas said. "But at the end of the day we got a good team point streak going, too. So that's nice. It's more important, and we're trying to get that home-ice advantage. Every point matters so much, and we know it's gonna be a dogfight right to the end."
The Blues won two of the first three games between the teams this season. They won 7-4 on the road on Oct. 18 and 5-1 at home on April 4. The Coyotes claimed a 3-2 decision Nov. 15 in St. Louis.
Since Karel Vejmelka started in goal for the Coyotes against the Capitals on Friday, Harri Sateri (0-2-0, 6.34 goals-against average) is expected to face the Blues.
Jordan Binnington started Thursday for the Blues in San Jose, so Ville Husso (24-6-6, 2.46 GAA) likely will get the nod on Saturday.
While the Blues are still battling for playoff positioning, the Coyotes are using the remaining games to sort through their organizational assets.
Power forward Bokondji Imama became the 11th Arizona player to make his NHL debut this season. He spent five years in the American Hockey League working for this opportunity, which came against the Capitals with forwards Jay Beagle (lower body) and Nick Ritchie (upper body) sidelined by injuries.
"For sure, the nerves were there; I'm not going to lie," Imama said. "I just tried to play my game."
Imama, the son of immigrants from the Congo, grew up in Montreal, played in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and spent five years in the AHL before getting his chance.
"I want to be a full-time NHL player, and I want to use this platform to impact kids that look like me," he told Phoenix Sports. "I want to help out my dad with whatever he does in Africa, help those families that are sick, that don't eat every day, don't even sleep every day. I want to fight against racism.
"I have a lot that I want to do, so maybe it's on me to just get a bigger platform. I've just got to be a bigger Boko."
