TEAM SNAPSHOTS
BLUES It was an eventful Wrestling Night at Enterprise Center on Wednesday as the St. Louis Blues and Minnesota Wild left nothing on the ice. Taking a 3-1 lead into the first intermission, the Blues surrendered five goals - and nearly had a goalie-on-goalie fight - in the second period as the game took a turn out of their control.
Pavel Buchnevich and Jakub Vrana combined for all five Blues goals, the former tallying his second career hat trick and first in a Blues uniform.
Buchnevich made his mark on the scoresheet for the 10th consecutive game, and Vrana is up to four goals in five games since coming to the Blues at the Trade Deadline. Torey Krug also produced for the offense, recording three assists for his season-high point total.
"We had a real good start to the game - our power play was clicking tonight," said Craig Berube after his milestone 500th game coached. "I thought we started the second period off well... Then they got one and it went downhill from there."
The Blues head out to Washington, D.C. for a one-game road trip, returning to face the Winnipg Jets on Sunday and then the Red Wings on Tuesday. They will be without Jordan Binnington for two games as he serves a suspension after an altercation with Minnesota's Ryan Hartman during Wednesday's game.
The Blues take on the Capitals with a record of 29-33-5, worth 63 points and sixth in the Central Division as of Thursday afternoon.
CAPITALS The Washington Capitals are hoping a late-season surge can vault them back into the tight Eastern Conference playoff picture.
Losing six games in a row after the All-Star Break, the Caps have found themselves five points shy of a Wild Card spot as of Thursday afternoon with 13 games left on their regular season schedule.
Having found more stable ground with a 5-3-1 record since snapping the losing streak, the Caps battled to the end to beat the Buffalo Sabres in a shootout on Wednesday night.
Alex Ovechkin - continuing his pursuit of Wayne Gretzky's all-time NHL goals record - helped close the gap as he and Tom Wilson scored unanswered goals in the final 10 minutes of regulation to force overtime. On Dec. 23, Ovechkin tallied his 802nd career goal to become the No. 2 goal scorer in NHL history.
After taking on the Blues, the Capitals have their shot against Minnesota before hosting Chicago and Columbus, a key chance to climb up the standings into playoff position.
They'll host the Blues with a season record of 33-29-7, worth 73 points and sixth in the Metropolitan Division.
HEAD-TO-HEAD The Blues beat the Capitals in a shootout at Enterprise Center earlier this year, with Pavel Buchnevich tallying the shootout winner in the sixth round of attempts. The Blues have won their last two games in Washington, outscoring the Capitals 9-3 in that span.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
BLUES Jakub Vrana, who had his first multi-goal game as a Blue on Wednesday night. Vrana spent his first five seasons with the Capitals, including contributing eight points in 23 games en route to the 2018 Stanley Cup.
CAPITALS T.J. Oshie, who recorded two points and the final shootout goal in Wednesday night's win over Buffalo. The former Blue has five points in his active four-game streak, totaling 33 in 51 games played this season.
BLUE NOTES
With his hat trick on Wednesday night, Pavel Buchnevich extended his season-long point streak to 10 games. He joins Brett Hull and Adam Oates as the only players in Blues history to post point streaks of at least 10 games in each of their first two seasons with the franchise. His streak also shares the longest active point streak in the NHL... Buchnevich's 1.17 points per game played ranks No. 18 in the League, currently second on the Blues with 61 total points this season... The Blues have scored at least four goals in five of their last six games against Washington, outscoring the Capitals 25-13 in that span.
The Washington Capitals have been playing catch-up in the Eastern Conference playoff race since their six-game losing streak in February.
That effort will continue Friday when they host the St. Louis Blues.
The Capitals rallied for 5-4 shootout victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday to improve to 4-2-1 in their last seven games. Washington overcame 3-1 and 4-2 deficits to force the overtime and shootout.
"Every game has to kind of be a playoff mentality for us, and there's no time like playoffs when you're down goals and able to fuel comebacks," Capitals forward T.J. Oshie said. "There was some desperation out there that you typically see in the postseason, some big goals out of our big guys, some incredible setup shifts before those goals."
The Capitals, Sabres, Florida Panthers and Ottawa Senators are chasing the New York Islanders for the last wild card slot on their side of the NHL.
So Washington star Alexander Ovechkin felt the urgency to return from his lower-body injury after missing his team's 5-3 loss to the New York Rangers on Tuesday.
"This time of the year, you don't want to miss any games. ... You just can't," Ovechkin said after the Sabres victory. "Obviously, (Tuesday) night we have a chance to come back but we didn't, and back-to-back play against a young, fast team was a challenge, and it was a good two points."
While the Capitals are persisting with their postseason push, the Blues are moving forward with their retooling. They surrendered this season by making multiple trades ahead of the NHL trade deadline to gain long-term assets.
The Blues are 3-8-2 in their last 13 games. They are coming off of an 8-5 loss to the Minnesota Wild, featuring a second-period defensive collapse after they broke out to a 3-1 first-period lead.
Minnesota blitzed the Blues for five goals in the second 20 minutes.
"What bothers me is just our lack of puck play in the second period," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "And our lack of protecting our net better. They scored a few goals around our net tonight.
"That's all we talked about before the game -- that we gotta be better there -- and we weren't good enough."
Pavel Buchnevich has been a bright spot for the Blues while seeing significant ice time at center for the first time in his career. During his 10-game point streak he has seven goals and 11 assists.
The Capitals missed forward Sonny Milano in the past two games due to a non-COVID illness. Aliaksei Protas filled in as coach Peter Laviolette shuffled his forward lines.
Washington also lost defenseman Nick Jensen to an undisclosed injury during their victory over Buffalo.
The Blues won the previous game between the teams 5-4 on Nov. 17 in St Louis. Ovechkin had a goal, two assists and nine shots on goal during that game while Thomas Greiss made 47 saves for the Blues to earn the victory.
Greiss figures to get another crack at the Capitals with Jordan Binnington getting a two-game suspension for his match penalty for striking Wild forward Ryan Hartman in the head with his blocker in Wednesday's game.
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Let's not get back on the winning track, like Panger just said.....
Chicago has been helping a ton lately by winning games against teams who should actually be fighting for playoff spots. 9 points between the Blues and Blackhawks?? That's a doable 15 game losing streak if the Blackhawks win just a few more. Heck, even San Jose and Anaheim are within tanking reach. The only team I don't see the Blues catching is Columbus. IMO, they've locked in the best chance at the #1 lottery pick.
It's kind of sad rooting for Hofer to lose in his 3rd NHL start.....
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Would've expected considerably more effort from the Capitals. Blues are getting away with crazy East-West 80' passes that any decent defensive team takes away and turns up ice into odd-man breaks in their favor. Capitals don't deserve to be a playoff team with the lackadaisical play they've shown tonight. If they somehow become a wild card team, they get swept in the 1st round.
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