TEAM SNAPSHOTS
BLUES The St. Louis Blues took care of business on the road again on Thursday, outscoring the Devils 3-1 in the third period to win their second straight game of 2023.
Jordan Binnington had a terrific showing in net, making 36 saves (his second-most this season) and earning career win No. 105 - moving him into sole possession of No. 5 on the all-time franchise leaderboard. Binnington also moved to 9-5-1 in road games this year, the second highest road win total in the NHL.
"(Binnington's) our backstop back there, we believe in him," said Brandon Saad, who had his own big night in Newark. "He's a big reason why we won tonight and why we're winning hockey games."
Saad and Ivan Barbashev each had multi-point nights as linemates on Thursday, building chemistry with each passing game while also seeing penalty kill minutes together.
The Blues continue their road trip in Montreal on Saturday for the first of a back-to-back set, hoping to add to the Canadiens' season-long losing streak.
They head to Montreal with a record of 19-17-3, worth 41 points and fifth place in a tight Central Division ladder as of Friday afternoon.
CANADIENS The Montreal Canadiens, going through some growing pains amidst a rebuild, have lost a season-long seven straight games heading into Saturday's contest with the Blues.
Defensive struggles have hampered the Canadiens as of late, who have given up at least four goals in each of their last six games. This includes a tough 9-2 loss to the Washington Capitals, which was driven by a hat trick by Alex Ovechkin on New Year's Eve.
Featuring plenty of young talent, the Canadiens are led in scoring by 23-year-old Nick Suzuki and 22-year-olds Cole Caufield and Kirby Dach. 2022 NHL Draft No. 1 pick Juraj Slafkovsky is still playing with the NHL roster, though he hasn't added to his 10 points on the season since Dec. 14.
Caufield has shown significant progress as a goal scorer, with his 22 goals already just one shy of his season total from last year. Drafted No. 15 in the 2019 NHL Draft, he only trails Jack Hughes for highest goal total in the draft class.
The Canadiens host the Blues with a record of 15-21-3, worth 33 points and eighth place in the Atlantic Division.
HEAD-TO-HEAD The Blues fell to Montreal 7-4 at Enterprise Center earlier this year thanks to a hat trick from Habs forward Christian Dvorak. The Blues are 7-4-1 in their last 12 games against the Canadiens, with a 1-0-1 record last season.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
BLUES Brandon Saad, who added a goal and an assist to Thursday's winning effort for his second straight multi-point game. Saad leads the Blues with two shorthanded goals this season and four total goals since Dec. 23.
CANADIENS Nick Suzuki, leading Montreal in points and recently selected as the team's representative at the 2023 NHL All-Star Game. Suzuki finished with three points in their last game against the Blues and is up to 32 on the season.
BLUE NOTES
Jordan Binnington now sits three wins shy of Grant Fuhr for No. 4 on the franchise all-time leaderboard... The Blues are three wins shy of 2,000 in franchise history, set to become the eighth NHL club and second non-Original Six team to reach the milestone... Justin Faulk is expected to dress in his 800th career NHL game on Thursday... After the upcoming back-to-back set concludes in Minnesota on Sunday, the Blues will be at the exact halfway point in the 2022-23 season... Since Dec. 16, the Blues' 34.6 percent power play ranks No. 1 in the NHL, while their nine power play goals share third.
The injury-depleted St. Louis Blues will bid for a third consecutive road victory when they visit the slumping Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.
After adding winger Vladimir Tarasenko (hand) and center Ryan O'Reilly to their extensive injury list, the Blues won 6-5 at Toronto in a shootout Tuesday and 5-3 at New Jersey on Thursday.
Tarasenko and O'Reilly joined forward Logan Brown and defensemen Torey Krug, Marco Scandella and Scott Perunovich on the sidelines. Those casualties have tested the Blues' depth and resolve as they try to stay in the Western Conference playoff race.
"We've got lots of depth," said Blues forward Robert Thomas, who scored two goals and added an assist in the victory over the Devils. "That's been our key for many years. It obviously sucks losing those guys, but other guys have got to step up. So far, we've done it, and we've just got to keep on going."
The Blues will looking to clean up their defensive play after allowing the Devils to put 39 shots on goal and keep goaltender Jordan Binnington under duress.
"All in all, 'Binner' was great tonight. He was lights out. We battled, but we've got to be better," Blues coach Craig Berube said.
Said Thomas: "From the start, you know we didn't play great in front of him. And he kept us in it and made some big saves at big moments that really helped us win. So hats off to him, he was remarkable."
The Blues have earned points in 10 of their last 12 games while going 7-2-3.
"We talked about a next-man-up mentality," Blues winger Brandon Saad said. "I think it's just playing the right way. When you have injuries, I think you can tighten it up, we're checking better and we're getting lots of chances and opportunities. We're capitalizing on them."
The Canadiens have lost seven straight games while being outscored 36-12. They fell 4-1 at home to the New York Rangers on Thursday.
"We don't have a ton of confidence right now," Canadiens forward Jake Evans said. "But in the third (period), compared to the last few games, I thought we did a great job and we were taking it to them, and who knows, one more bounce and it's a completely different game."
The Canadiens have been going through growing pains amid their young players, including Juraj Slafkovsky, the first overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft. Slafkovsky made a costly giveaway in the loss to the Rangers.
"You always want plays back, you know," Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said Thursday. "Probably some that cost more, you want more. It's probably something that he'll think about tonight, and tomorrow (it's) just a simple, 'How you doing, Slaf? Are you OK? It's part of it.' Just a simple discussion, and we'll go to work."
Montreal's task gets hard with the loss of defenseman Kaiden Guhle for eight weeks with a lower-body injury and winger Brendan Gallagher for two weeks with a lower-body injury.
Montreal won its previous game against the Blues this season 7-4 on Oct. 29 in St. Louis. Christian Dvorak scored a hat trick in that game, Cole Caufield scored twice and former Blues goaltender Jake Allen earned the victory.
