TEAM SNAPSHOTS
BLUES The St. Louis Blues will look to cap off their season-long homestand with a win on Tuesday after a tough loss to Chicago on Saturday.
Two early goals put the Blackhawks ahead, and a strong late game by the Blues was not quite enough to overcome the deficit as they fell 5-3 to their Midwest rivals.
"We've had some guys out, but we're battling hard and playing hard," said Brayden Schenn. "People are at us just because of the start we had, and it's hard to climb out of it. But, if you look at our record (since), guys are playing hard and playing together."
Schenn and the Blues are confident that, despite the loss to the last-place Blackhawks, their season trajectory has been on the rise for the last two months. Since the Blues snapped their early eight-game losing streak with a win over the Sharks on Nov. 10, their 20 wins share No. 6 in the NHL and their 123 goals only trail Edmonton for the League lead.
Looking to cap off the season-long homestand, the Blues host the Buffalo Sabres for a chance to go 4-3-0 in the seven-game stay at Enterprise Center. Their 23-21-3 record is worth 49 points and places them sixth in the Central Division, still within one point of Nashville.
SABRES The Buffalo Sabres have been looking to rise up the standings after hosting the Blues just before Thanksgiving, playing at a postseason-worthy 15-8-3 pace since the Nov. 23 win over St. Louis.
Tage Thompson and Rasmus Dahlin lead the young roster in scoring, playing as two of the best at their positions this season. Shortly after the Sabres hosted the Blues, Thompson logged his second six-point night of the season - no other NHL skater even has one this year. Dahlin is also the only defenseman to log a five-point game, finishing with two points and three assists against Minnesota on Jan. 7.
Trying to break out of a 1-4-0 stretch, the Sabres have earned points in three straight games entering a back-to-back set starting in Dallas on Monday. While the Blues have two days' rest between games for the second time in two weeks, Buffalo will be finishing their third back-to-back of the New Year on Tuesday before continuing the road trip in Winnipeg and Minnesota.
The Sabres' two game homestand, during which they raised goaltender Ryan Miller's jersey to the rafters, saw an overtime win over the Islanders and a 6-3 win over Anaheim.
They head to Enterprise Center with a record of 23-19-3, worth 49 points and fifth place in the Central Division ahead of Monday night's contest in Dallas.
HEAD-TO-HEAD The Blues fell 6-2 in Buffalo earlier this season, driven by five unanswered goals by the Sabres over the final two periods. The Blues have won nine straight home games with Buffalo, however, their longest active home win streak against any opponent.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
BLUES Ivan Barbashev, who logged a Gordie Howe hat trick on Saturday by scoring a goal, notching an assist and dropping the gloves with Chicago's Isaak Phillips. Barbashev has five points in 10 career games against Buffalo, including one assist earlier this year.
SABRES Tage Thompson, currently No. 7 in the NHL in points this year and selected to represent the Sabres at All-Star Weekend. Traded from the Blues in the deal that brought Ryan O'Reilly to St. Louis, Thompson leads the Sabres with 32 goals and 61 points.
BLUE NOTES
Craig Berube will coach his 320th game behind the bench on Tuesday, matching Blues Hall of Famer Brian Sutter for No. 3 on the all-time franchise leaderboard. His 179 wins are third-most by any Blues head coach, placing the Blues No. 10 in the NHL since his arrival in 2018... The Blues' nine-game home win streak vs. Buffalo is the fourth-longest against any one opponent in franchise history and dates back to Jan. 21, 2012... Jordan Binnington's next win in goal will move him to sole possession of No. 4 on the franchise leaderboard. He is currently tied with Grant Fuhr at 108 wins between the pipes... After Tuesday's game vs. Buffalo, the Blues will play four straight games against Central Division teams, including a three-game road trip before the All-Star break.
Blues hope to get veterans back as Sabres visit
The St. Louis Blues hope to get winger Vladimir Tarasenko and defenseman Torey Krug back in the lineup Tuesday when they host the Buffalo Sabres.
Tarasenko has been sidelined since Dec. 31 with a hand injury while Krug has been on the shelf since Dec. 23 with a lower-body injury.
Both players practiced at full speed ahead of Tuesday's game at Enterprise Center, which will conclude St. Louis' seven-game homestand. The Blues went 3-3 in the first six games without their two key veterans.
"They practiced today full again, which is good," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "Kruger getting another one in there, Vladi's been with us and they both seem good. Kind of wait and see."
Tarasenko skated on a line with Brayden Schenn and Ivan Barbashev at even strength, and he moved back onto the net-front position on the top power-play unit.
"Vladi's done a good job around the net," Berube said. "We've put him around the net a little bit this year. He's done a good job there, he's big, he's hard to handle down there. His hands, he can take pucks to the net and score. Hard to move, rebounds, things like that. I like him there."
Krug skated on a pairing with rookie Tyler Tucker at even strength and he quarterbacked the top power-play unit, bumping Justin Faulk down to the second unit.
Berube hopes Krug can improve the Blues' puck movement with the man advantage.
"Moving that puck quick, one second makes the difference of getting a shot through and then good things happen," Berube said. "It's really important to move the puck quick from the top and get that puck into the flanker's hands or get your shot through. Kruger's got four power play goals this year, too. He's using his shot, and it's been effective."
The Sabres started their four-game road trip by defeating the Dallas Stars 3-2 in overtime Monday night.
"We were able to collect ourselves after the first period," said Sabres coach Don Granato, whose team fell behind 1-0 less than two minutes into the game and didn't have a shot on goal for the first nine minutes against Dallas. "We could have been down 4-1 or 5-1. Our guys at that point understood the competitive level of the game and we rose to it."
Victor Olofsson scored his ninth goal in his last 10 games and Owen Power ended the game just 56 seconds into overtime with his first goal of the season.
Buffalo has remained in the Eastern Conference playoff race by playing well on the road, where it is 10-2-1 in its last 13 games away from home. The Sabres have a four-game point streak (3-0-1) overall.
"Nothing but confidence in this group," Granato said. "That doesn't mean we're not going to go through what we went through (Monday). You're playing in the NHL. You have an $80 million payroll against you almost every night in the NHL. You're playing against great players.
"So what I liked is within the context of the game we didn't lose composure once and we identified the right way to play."
The Sabres won 6-2 at home on Nov. 23 in their previous game against the Blues. Jeff Skinner and Jack Quinn each scored two goals in that game and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 34 saves.
Craig Anderson started in goal for the Sabres in Dallas, so Luukkonen figures to get another shot at the Blues.
