TEAM SNAPSHOTS
BLUES The St. Louis Blues are looking to bounce back from a 4-1 loss to the Calgary Flames when they host the Tampa Bay Lightning for Saturday's Hall of Fame game.
Two games into a seven-game homestand, the Blues will look to improve their season home record over the long stretch at Enterprise Center. Their 8-9-2 record on home ice ranks No. 26 in the NHL this season, down from their Top-10 standing last year. With the final four games in the homestand - and the next two - coming against teams currently outside the playoff picture, the Blues have an opportunity to build steam heading towards the All-Star break.
Though they fell to Calgary on Thursday, the Blues continue to see encouraging results from their young players playing up in the absence of several key veterans. Jake Neighbours' third-period goal was the latest example, building off momentum with other young Blues. Neighbours (20 years old), Nikita Alexandrov (22) and Alexey Toropchenko (22) have combined for 10 points in their last six games.
The veterans and young players alike will have to be at their best when they take on the Bolts, winners of 11 of their last 15 games.
The Blues will suit up on Saturday with a record is 21-19-3, worth 45 points and fourth place in the Central Division as of Friday afternoon.
LIGHTNING Looking to separate from the rest of the Atlantic Division, the Tampa Bay Lightning have won their last two games as they kick off a five-game road trip in St. Louis.
Scoring 11 goals against the Columbus Blue Jackets and Vancouver Canucks in a two-game homestand, the Lightning saw an NHL-high six points from Nikita Kucherov this week and another four from Steven Stamkos.
Kucherov - selected to represent the Lightning at All-Star Weekend - continues to drive the Lightning's offense, his 61 points this season only trailing Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl for the League lead. After playing just 47 games last season due to injury, Kucherov trails his 2021-22 regular season total by only eight points.
Tampa Bay continues their road trip out West following Saturday's game, with the red-hot Seattle Kraken next on the horizon on Monday.
The three-time defending Eastern Conference champions face the Blues with a record of 26-13-1, worth 53 points and third place in the Atlantic Division.
HEAD-TO-HEAD Taking on the Lightning after they honor legends of the franchise, the Blues look to even the season series after falling 5-2 in Tampa on Nov. 25. The Blues are are 8-1-0 in their last nine home games against the Lightning, including a thrilling shootout win last year.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
BLUES Pavel Buchnevich, whose eight points and six assists since the calendar flipped to 2023 leads the Blues. Buchnevich has 36 points in 34 games this season, keeping pace with his career-high scoring season last year.
LIGHTNING Steven Stamkos, leading the Bolts with 18 goals this season and currently one goal away from 500 for his career. Stamkos has five points in his last three games and 15 points in 17 career games against the Blues.
BLUE NOTES
The Blues will honor several franchise legends with a pregame puck drop and induction ceremony into the St. Louis Blues Hall of Fame on Saturday... The Blues are 18-6-0 this season when scoring first, which shares the fifth most wins in the NHL... With a win on Saturday, the Blues would become the eighth NHL franchise to reach 2,000 wins... Jordan Binnington trails Grant Fuhr by two wins in goal for fourth most in franchise history... The Blues are one of four teams to record three multi-goal third period comeback wins this season... The Blues' 22 goals since 2023 began share No. 3 in the NHL.
Steven Stamkos will gun for his 500th career goal when the Tampa Bay Lightning visit the St. Louis Blues Saturday.
Stamkos notched No. 499 while pumping seven shots on goal in a 5-4 victory over the Vancouver Canucks at home Thursday.
"I'm trying, shoot the puck and things are going to happen," Stamkos said. "I had some good looks tonight. I just don't want guys to feel obligated to force the puck; that's human nature. That's something you do when guys are close to milestones like that."
Of course, fans in Tampa were urging him to shoot at every opportunity to get No. 500.
"That was cool," Stamkos said. "Obviously, it would have been nice to do it at home and in front of the crowd, but we'll see what happens on this road trip. But again, it's something that's not something that's keeping me up at night. It's like I've been preaching the whole time, when it's time to happen, it's going to happen."
Stamkos, 32, has 520 assists and 1,019 points in his career. His 499 goals ranks 47th all-time, one behind Lanny McDonald.
"He's been in the league 15 years, so 15 years of anticipation of getting a 500th goal," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "So it's a pretty exciting time. But I'm sure it can be a little stressful, too. Because you want to get it over with, but eventually it will come.
"When he gets it done, we'll reflect back and be like, 'Wow, that's a heck of a lot of goals.' But hopefully it will come soon."
This game will be the third game of a seven-game homestand for the Blues. They split two games with Calgary, winning 4-3 in overtime and losing 4-1 to start this stretch.
Blues coach Craig Berube believed his team failed to sustain enough offensive zone time in those games against Calgary.
"The last couple games for sure, I don't feel like we cycled the puck well enough," Berube said after Thursday's loss. "We still scored enough goals in the first game. Not tonight obviously.
"We need more guys that are willing to play that style of game."
Since the Blues are playing catch-up in the Western Conference playoff race, letting the Flames leave town with three points was not ideal. After Thursday night's game, Calgary held the first wild-card slot and the Blues were out the bracket, four points back of the Flames.
"If you look at the standings -- where we are, where they are, that was a big game standings-wise," Blues defenseman Colton Parayko said. "It's over. It sucks. Regroup (for) a big game Saturday."
The Lightning won the previous game between these teams this season, 5-2 on Nov. 25. Brayden Point had two goals and an assist in that game while Nikita Kucherov had three assists.
Tampa Bay has won six of its last eight games. The Lightning scored 11 goals in home-ice victories over Columbus and Vancouver after scoring just three goals in their previous two.
This game in St. Louis is the opener of the Lightning's five-game road trip to Western Conference cities.
