TEAM SNAPSHOTS
BLUES The St. Louis Blues took the challenge of their season-long road trip in stride, earning seven out of 10 possible points against multiple teams in Western Conference playoff contention.
Jordan Kyrou led the offense during the road trip, earning a team-high nine points despite only playing three of the five games after suffering an upper-body injury.
Playing to overtime in the road trip opener, as well as through to a shootout in the finale, the Blues have quickly built a sample of close-game competitive experience. After seeing overtime in just three of their first 27 games, the Blues have seen additional time in four of their last eight games.
With three days off for the Christmas holiday, the Blues are ready to jump right back in for the next two months before the All-Star break. Opening a homestand against the Maple Leafs on Tuesday, the Blues will play three games at home this week before facing Toronto again on to start a four-game road trip next week.
The Blues host the Maple Leafs with a record of 16-16-2, worth 34 points and fifth place in the Central Division.
MAPLE LEAFS After falling in the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the sixth year in a row, the Toronto Maple Leafs are setting out to break through into true championship contention.
The Leafs are led in scoring by reigning Hart Trophy winner Auston Matthews, Top-10 goal scorer William Nylander and early-season point streak leader Mitch Marner. Propelled by Marner's historic streak, the Maple Leafs surged in November and now hold the No. 2 spot in the Atlantic Division and No. 4 in the overall League standings ahead of Tuesday's game in St. Louis.
As Marner scored points in 23 straight games, the Leafs went 15-2-6 for a League-best 36 points from Oct. 27 to Dec. 13. Only 2-2-0 in the four games since, Toronto will be trying to get back to that level of star-powered offense on Tuesday night.
Despite Jack Campbell's departure for Edmonton in the offseason, the Maple Leafs have seen stellar play in goal this year from both Ilya Samsonov and Matt Murray. Among goaltenders with at least 10 starts this year, Samsonov (2.07) and Murray (2.34) are No. 3 and No. 4, respectively in goals-against average.
Toronto heads to St. Louis with a record of 21-7-6, worth 48 points and second in the Atlantic Division.
HEAD-IO-HEAD The Blues went 1-1-0 against Toronto last year, with both teams winning in the other's building. In their last 10 matchups with the Maple Leafs, the Blues are 8-2-0 - including seven wins in a row from Feb. 2, 2017 to Oct. 7, 2019.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
BLUES Vladimir Tarasenko, who led the Blues with three points in Vegas and scored on his shootout attempt. Tarasenko now has 28 points on the season, 12 of which have come in 12 games played at Enterprise Center.
MAPLE LEAFS Mitch Marner, whose 23-game point streak earlier this season set a Maple Leafs franchise record. After ending the streak with two scoreless games, Marner has three points in his last two games as he prepares to face the Blues.
BLUE NOTES
Pavel Buchnevich is expected to dress in his 400th career NHL game on Tuesday vs. Toronto... The Blues went 5-for-15 (33.3 percent) on the power play over their five-game road trip, which shares No. 6 in the NHL since Dec. 15. Since Dec. 16, however, the Blues 45.5 percent power play ranks first in the League... Colton Parayko's next goal will be his 50th with the Blues. He is on pace to become the seventh defenseman in franchise history to reach the milestone... The Blues scored 20 goals on their road trip (including shootout-deciding goals), marking just the fifth time in franchise history the Blues have scored 20 or more goals on a road trip of five games.
Leafs look to stay hot, visit Blues
The Toronto Maple Leafs will try to build upon their pre-holiday roll when they visit the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday.
The Leafs have gone 11-2-1 since Nov. 23. They beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-1 and the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 in their final two games before the Christmas break.
"A little too exciting at the end, but a good way to head into the break," Leafs winger William Nylander said after the Flyers game.
Forward Mitch Marner was happy the team left off on a high note, too.
"You want to go into Christmas with a win under your belt," Marner said.
The Maple Leafs have persevered through injuries. Defensemen Morgan Rielly, Rasmus Sandin and Jake Muzzin are all on the shelf.
If the Leafs continue alternating starters in goal, Matt Murray will get the call against the Blues. Ilya Samsonov had a tough outing in the victory over Philadelphia and also struggled during a 5-2 loss to the Washington Capitals on Dec. 17.
"The last couple of games, I let in late goals, maybe a Christmas gift from me," Samsonov said. "But it's OK. We got the two points (Thursday). This is more important for us. And we'll get some smiles tomorrow with a couple of days off. We'll enjoy that.
"Sometimes we have bad days. It's just life. We'll be back. I'll use the break to work (on) my mental side. Maybe do some fishing. Then come back here with new energy, new power."
The Blues finished their pre-Christmas schedule with a 3-1-1 road trip, winning games at Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver before losing at Seattle and suffering a 5-4 shootout loss to the Golden Knights in Las Vegas.
"We've got to keep climbing," Blues captain Ryan O'Reilly said after the loss to the Golden Knights. "It's going to be tight and every point matters. That's frustrating to let this one slip. Not what we want."
The Blues are still struggling to re-establish the aggressive forechecking pressure that helped them win the Stanley Cup in 2019. They are 11-6-0 against teams currently outside the potential postseason bracket but just 5-10-2 against teams currently in playoff position.
As a result, they are playing catch-up in the Western Conference postseason chase. The Blues come out of the break five points behind the Flames for the final wild-card slot.
"They'll be an odd team or two that are inconsistent going in," St. Louis defenseman Justin Faulk told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "I would tend to imagine that those teams don't last very long in the playoffs. So you've got to know how your team's supposed to play. What your identity is, and you've got to use the year to build it. And hope you don't take too long to find it."
Winger Jordan Kyrou missed the last two games of the Blues' road trip with an upper-body injury and is questionable for Tuesday's game. Kyrou, who leads the Blues with 32 points (16 goals, 16 assists) in 31 games, had six goals and three assists during the first three games of the trip.
