TEAM SNAPSHOTS
BLUES The St. Louis Blues will be looking to regain their momentum when they return to Enterprise Center on Saturday to host the Montreal Canadiens.
Thursday's 6-2 loss in Nashville was their third straight after the team began the season 3-0.
Nashville was playing on five days' rest, whereas the Blues were competing in their second game in a row and third in four nights.
After playing just twice in the first 11 days of the NHL calendar, the Blues played four games in six nights and showed some resulting inconsistency to match the pace of play.
Despite the loss, the Blues were able to keep up their high volume of shots on goal, adding 35 to total 73 shots in their last two games.
"We're competing hard, I like that - it's a heavy game," said Blues Head Coach Craig Berube. "In the end, we gotta make less mistakes, and just keep (the shots) going - puck's gonna go in eventually."
The Blues bring a 3-3-0 record back home to kick off a three-game homestand. They currently have six points and are in seventh place in the Central Division.
CANADIENS The youth movement is on for the Montreal Canadiens. After drafting No. 1 overall in the 2022 NHL Draft and selecting forward Juraj Slafkovsky, the Canadiens have given the keys to their young players, namely 22-year-old Cole Caufield and 23-year-old Captain Nick Suzuki.
Suzuki and Caufield are leading the Habs in the early goings of the season with seven points each in eight games played.
After turning over their head coaching duties to Martin St. Louis, the young roster has started to show signs of development and are building winning habits. With a record of 8-30-7 last season prior to St. Louis's arrival, Montreal is 18-23-4 with the Quebec native behind the bench.
The Canadiens are coming off a 3-2 win in Buffalo, their first of a four-game road trip continuing in Minnesota and Winnipeg. Goaltender Sam Montembault, primarily serving as the backup to former Blue Jake Allen, made a monumental 43 saves to secure the win.
The Canadiens carry a 4-4-0 record to St. Louis, worth eight points and a five-way tie in the highly-competitive Atlantic Division.
HEAD-TO-HEAD The Blues finished 1-0-1 against the Canadiens last season, including a 4-1 win in their lone matchup at Enterprise Center. The Blues are 5-1-0 in their last six home games against Montreal.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
BLUES Justin Faulk, whose two assists in Nashville bring his season total to seven points, shares the team lead. For the first time in his 12-year NHL career, Faulk has recorded points in five out of six games to start the season.
CANADIENS Nick Suzuki, the second-youngest captain in the NHL next to Ottawa's Brady Tkachuk. Suzuki set a career-high 61 points last season and has one goal in four career games against the Blues.
BLUE NOTES
Vladimir Tarasenko is slated to dress in his 613th career game, which will move him into a tie with Al MacInnis for 13th on the Blues all-time leaderboard...The Blues first-period goal differential of plus-3 shares fifth in the NHL... Jordan Binnington ranks fourth in the NHL with a 1.74 goals-against average this season, and shares fifth with a .936 save percentage (min. two games started)... Binnington is seven wins shy of becoming the sixth goaltender in franchise history to record 100 wins between the pipes.
The struggling St. Louis Blues will try to snap a three-game losing streak when they host the rebuilding Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.
The Blues have been outscored 13-3 during their downturn, which followed an encouraging 3-0-0 start.
"We have a veteran group in this locker room, and we've got to find a way to overcome it and it falls on the leadership group to pull ourselves out of it," defenseman Torey Krug said, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "So we have to do a better job."
The Blues' special teams have been fine, with a 26.7 percent power-play conversion rate and 92.3 percent success killing penalties. But they are seeking improvement in their 5-on-5 play heading into a meeting with the Canadiens, who have won three of their last five games.
"Yeah, we're forcing it, and I think whether it's early in the season or not, I think we feel the pressure to score goals, 5-on-5," Krug said. "I think we're just trying to make something out of nothing rather than sticking with a game plan and letting our process dictate the game. So we have a lot of work to do."
The Blues have been playing without key wingers Pavel Buchnevich, who is on injured reserve with a lower-body injury, and Brandon Saad, who is sidelined on a day-to-day basis with an upper-body injury.
In their last four games the Blues have scored three power-play goals, one empty-net goal and just one 5-on-5 goal.
"Our guys were getting some good looks and just not burying it right now, probably gripping your sticks a little bit," Blues forward Brayden Schenn said. "We're not scoring a lot of goals and you have to try and bear down on the chances you do get. Sometimes it only makes it worse."
The Canadiens opened their current four-game road trip Thursday with a 3-2 victory at Buffalo, which was highlighted by rookie defenseman Kaiden Guhle's first NHL goal.
Guhle, the 16th overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, is one of Montreal's key building blocks. The 20-year-old scored 56 points in 61 Western Hockey League regular-season and playoff games last season.
Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki told Guhle that he felt that first goal coming.
"I had a good feeling about him," Suzuki said. "He's been playing pretty good lately and I know he wanted his first one, so just giving him an extra boost of confidence."
Guhle and fellow rookies Arber Xhekaj and Jordan Harris are playing larger-than-expected roles with veterans Mike Matheson and Joel Edmundson injured.
"The win's obviously the most important part," Guhle said. "I'm just trying to do whatever I can to help the team win. So it was nice to see that one go in, but it was obviously a big win for us tonight and a good way to start the road trip."
Another key Canadiens building block is Juraj Slafkovsky, the first overall draft pick in 2022 who has been sidelined with an upper-body injury. He is with the team and he could return at some point on the road trip.
