Season series: The St. Louis Blues swept two games from the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2013-14. Brian Elliott made 33 saves and David Backes' goal with 8:40 remaining in regulation gave the Blues a 1-0 victory against the Penguins on March 23, 2014.
Penguins team scope: The Penguins' offense has suddenly gone missing. After a 2-1 home loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday, Pittsburgh is 0-2-1 in its past three games and has scored one goal in each of the losses. The Blues are in the top five in the League in goals-against and will pose more problems for an offense that has dropped to 16th in the NHL. "They're all going to be tough from here on in," captain Sidney Crosby said after practice Friday. "Every team is going to present different challenges. Our focus has to be on our game and what we need to do. We'll see a lot of good defensive teams, teams that are playing their best here down the stretch." Defenseman Christian Ehrhoff (concussion) practiced and took contact; he will travel but will not play. The game marks the return of Penguins forward Maxim Lapierre to St. Louis. Lapierre was traded to the Penguins by the Blues on Jan. 27 for center Marcel Goc, who will be facing his former team for the first time.
Blues team scope: The Blues are 4-0-1 in their past five games against the Penguins and have allowed five goals in that span. Elliott will start after Jake Allen made 26 saves in a 5-1 home victory against the Boston Bruins on Friday. It was a strong bounce-back effort after the Blues began a four-game homestand with a lackluster 4-1 loss to the Dallas Stars on Tuesday. "We needed the two points," Allen said of the victory against Boston. "We needed to get our game back, our identity back and build some confidence moving forward."
Frustrations appear to be taking their toll on the sputtering Pittsburgh Penguins, who haven't been able to stop the bleeding.
Still, they know they're more than capable of turning things around.
The visiting Penguins will try to do just that Saturday night against the St. Louis Blues, who own the league's best record over the last seven weeks.
While Pittsburgh (32-17-9) sits comfortably atop the Eastern Conference wild-card standings, it hasn't looked much like a playoff team lately. The Penguins, 10-11-5 over their last 26 games, have been limited to average of 1.9 goals in nine contests this month while going 0 for 20 on the power play.
"It's how you handle it and how you find a way to get out of it," captain Sidney Crosby told the team's official website. "There is no better test than this time of year when the games mean the most. That will bring the best out of everybody. It's been a while for our team to face something like that, but I don't think it's a bad thing as long as we handle it the right way."
The Penguins are hoping to avoid a third four-game losing streak of the season after scoring one goal in each of their last three games. Evgeni Malkin provided all the offense with his 22nd goal in Thursday's 2-1 loss to Columbus, a game that saw Crosby fight Brandon Dubinsky in what may have been an attempt to spark the club.
"When you've lost a couple games and aren't playing right, everyone is nervous," Malkin said. "We have to stay positive, support each other. We know we're a good team and we know we can play better. Every game we need to take small steps forward and play right.
"We have a good team, and in the playoffs we have a chance to play in the Stanley Cup Finals. If we play right, we win."
Opponents haven't seen much go their way against St. Louis (38-16-4), which has won 16 of its last 20 after getting by Boston 5-1 on Friday. Vladimir Tarasenko scored twice and Alexander Steen matched a career high with three assists as the Blues put together a four-goal second period.
"We can quick-strike, and we're dangerous," coach Ken Hitchcock said.
At 23 years, 65 days, Tarasenko became the team's youngest 30-goal scorer since Brendan Shanahan got his 30th at 23 years, 63 days in 1991-92. Tarasenko is tied with Tampa Bay's Steven Stamkos and San Jose's Joe Pavelski for third in the league with 31 goals.
The Blues are 20-4-0 when Tarasenko finds the back of the net.
"You try to score on every shift so hard," he said. "I need to keep going. We have (24) games more."
Jake Allen allowed the game's first goal before finishing with 26 saves to earn a sixth consecutive win. Brian Elliott is slated to start Saturday despite posting a 3.79 goals-against average in his last five starts.
Elliott is 5-1-1 with a 2.26 GAA against the Penguins after turning away all 33 shots in a 1-0 road win March 23. The Blues have had Pittsburgh's number since 2001-02, going 9-2-2 in the series, including 5-1-1 at home.
Marc-Andre Fleury is 2-2-1 with a 1.76 GAA over a five-game stretch against St. Louis. He has compiled a 1.00 GAA in his last six starts overall, but a lack of support has left him with a 3-2-1 record.
This marks the first meeting since St. Louis sent Maxim Lapierre to Pittsburgh in exchange for Marcel Goc on Jan. 28.
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95% of the NHL preview for the Pens v Blues game tonight is about the Penguins.
The only thing they say about the Blues is that we are playing on short rest and won both games against the Penguins last year.
Nothing about having the 2nd best record in the NHL and 4 pts. behind Nashville.
Nothing about our nice rebound win last night against Boston.
Nothing about our 16-3-1record over the past 20 games.
95% of the NHL preview for the Pens v Blues game tonight is about the Penguins.
The only thing they say about the Blues is that we are playing on short rest and won both games against the Penguins last year.
Nothing about having the 2nd best record in the NHL and 4 pts. behind Nashville.
Nothing about our nice rebound win last night against Boston.
Nothing about our 16-3-1record over the past 20 games.
Meh. That was a horrible preview for Blues fans.
You're surprised by this?
In all fairness, it is more newsworthy that the Pens' offense is slumping than the Blues are doing well.
95% of the NHL preview for the Pens v Blues game tonight is about the Penguins.
The only thing they say about the Blues is that we are playing on short rest and won both games against the Penguins last year.
Nothing about having the 2nd best record in the NHL and 4 pts. behind Nashville.
Nothing about our nice rebound win last night against Boston.
Nothing about our 16-3-1record over the past 20 games.
Meh. That was a horrible preview for Blues fans.
You're surprised by this?
In all fairness, it is more newsworthy that the Pens' offense is slumping than the Blues are doing well.
Not surprised...just ever annoyed.
And it's not like they are on broadcast tv and only have 30 seconds of time...this is for nhl.com, they could have made it as long as they wanted and, oh, I don't know...maybe talk about both teams playing tonight? That might be a good idea if you are going to do a "game preview" video.
