TEAM SNAPSHOTS
BLUES The St. Louis Blues battled to the end on Saturday night in Los Angeles, but the Kings finally broke through on special teams to beat the Blues late.
Up until a power-play goal that gave the Kings the lead with three minutes left in regulation, the Blues had blanked the Los Angeles power-play and even saw a shorthanded goal from Kasperi Kapanen.
"(Brandon Saad) made a good play at the wall and I had a step on (Kings defenseman Sean Durzi)," said Kapanen. "I feel like that's kind of my go-to move... luckily it went in."
Pavel Buchnevich continued his exceptional run of play, recording an assist to extend his point streak to five games since returning from a lower-body injury on Feb. 23. In his nine games since the All-Star Break, Buchnevich has averaged 1.56 points per game, only trailing Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon and Leon Draisaitl atop the NHL leaderboard (minimum five games played).
Before returning to Enterprise Center for a quick one-game stay, the Blues conclude their West coast road trip at Arizona's Mullett Arena on Tuesday. After a weather issue delayed his arrival from Detroit, newest Blue Jakub Vrana is expected to make his debut in the divisional clash.
They'll face the Coyotes with a record of 27-30-5, worth 59 points on the season.
COYOTES The Arizona Coyotes were also busy at the NHL Trade Deadline, making a number of moves to collect future assets as they continue their rebuild efforts. Most notably, the Coyotes traded defensemen Jakob Chychrun (to Ottawa) and Shayne Gostisbehere (to Carolina) for assets including a 2023 first-round pick, two future second rounders and a third rounder.
The Coyotes have gone 1-4-1 since their five-game point streak in mid-February, including three straight losses to potential Stanley Cup contenders - Dallas, Carolina, New Jersey - heading into Tuesday's matchup. Their latest was the most competitive, falling to the Devils at home in overtime on Sunday night.
Down 4-2 entering the third period, Nick Schmaltz and Jack McBain scored unanswered goals to force overtime and earn a point against the League's top road team. McBain's goal came with two minutes left in regulation, but Nico Hischier took just 23 seconds to end the game with his OT winner.
Arizona will play their third game of a four-game homestand on Tuesday night, concluding against Nashville amidst a long stretch of games at Mullett Arena. Twelve of their 14 games from Feb. 19 to March 18 will take place at the 4,600-seat arena.
The Coyotes host the Blues with a season record of 21-32-10, worth 52 points and seventh in the Central Division.
HEAD-TO-HEAD The Blues are 1-1 against Arizona this year, winning in overtime but taking a tough 5-0 loss in their last trip to Mullett Arena. The Blues are 6-4-1 in their last 11 games against the Coyotes, scoring at least five goals in four of the last six.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
BLUES Robert Thomas, who logged his 15th goal of the season on Saturday in Los Angeles. Thomas has four points in his last four games, also adding a goal in the last matchup with Arizona.
COYOTES Nick Schmaltz, who totaled eight points across two matchups against the Blues this year - including his first career hat trick on Jan. 26. Schmaltz has 15 points and a team-high eight goals in 12 games played since the All-Star break.
BLUE NOTES
Nine of the remaining 13 games the Blues will play in March are against Western Conference opponents... Since Dec. 11, the Blues rank No. 6 in the NHL on the penalty kill, going 80-for-95 (84.2 percent) in that time... With 52 points in 47 games, Pavel Buchnevich is currently the only Blue averaging more than one point per game (1.11), and his plus-8 rating only trails Calle Rosen for the team lead. Last season, he posted a point per game played for the first time in his career, registering 76 points in 73 games.
After staging a spirited comeback attempt against the New Jersey Devils on Sunday, the Arizona Coyotes hope to carry that vibe into Tuesday's home game against the St. Louis Blues.
The Coyotes rallied from a 4-2 deficit to tie the game and force overtime with the Devils at Mullett Arena.
"We had fun tonight in the third," Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny said after his team lost 5-4. "We were really proud of ourselves, and that's a feeling we want to have every night. Unfortunately, we didn't win, and we want to win in front of our fans, but we fought and we take a lot of pride in that."
The Coyotes are 1-4-1 in their last six games. The Blues are 1-5-2 in their last eight.
Both teams made significant changes ahead of the NHL trade deadline. The Coyotes are rebuilding over the long haul while the Blues hope to engineer a quicker pivot.
Arizona is going with a youth movement, relying on prospects like defenseman Victor Soderstrom, the 11th overall pick in the 2019 draft. Soderstrom has earned assists in his last two games.
"He was solid, he was assertive, he was decisive," Tourigny said. "That's how he needs to play every night."
The Blues traded away key veterans Vladimir Tarasenko, Ryan O'Reilly, Ivan Barbashev and Noel Acciari to add prospects and high draft picks for their retooling.
But they also picked up forward Kasperi Kapanen off waivers from the Pittsburgh Penguins and acquired Jakub Vrana from the Detroit Red Wings.
Kapanen scored a short-handed goal as the Blues lost 4-2 to the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday in the middle of their three-game Western road trip.
"He's just like what I thought," Blues coach Craig Berube said of Kapanen. "He's a smart player. He's got good speed, makes some plays. But he's got good awareness defensively. So far, he's played pretty good for us."
Kapanen has two goals in his first three games with the Blues. He had scored just seven goals in 43 games with the Penguins before hitting the waiver wire.
"It feels good to have chances," Kapanen said. "I feel like I'm shooting the puck a little bit more. Just in general I feel better out there, so hopefully there'll be more goals to come."
Vrana joined the team in Los Angeles but didn't face the Kings. He could debut with his new team Tuesday.
The Blues started the road trip with a 6-3 victory at San Jose. Then they delivered a solid effort in the loss to the Kings.
"I thought a lot of guys played a solid hockey game, competed hard," Berube said. "It was a good game. Just a late penalty and we didn't kill it off. That's the game."
These teams split their first two games this season. The Coyotes won 5-0 at home on Jan. 26 on Karel Vejmelka's 33-save shutout.
The Blues prevailed 6-5 in overtime on Feb. 11 in St. Louis with Calle Rosen (two goals), Pavel Buchnevich (three assists), Jordan Kyrou (two assists) and Colton Parayko (two assists) having big games.
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