BLUES After two difficult losses to open the road trip, the St. Louis Blues got back into rhythm for a 3-1 win over Anaheim on Sunday night. Jake Neighbours got the Blues on the board first, scoring in two games in a row for the first time in his career after lighting the lamp the previous night in Los Angeles.
Pavel Buchnevich followed with his team-high third power-play goal of the season, eventually holding as the game winner after the Ducks got on the board in the second period.
The win came at a critical time, staving off a third straight loss and 0-3 road trip record. The Blues have done a better job not letting losing streaks drag out - they have not exceeded two losses in a row all season.
Wednesday night, the Blues have an opportunity to come out of their West road trip an even 2-2, visiting the Coyotes at the NHL's smallest venue for their third matchup of the young season. Returning home to greet Ryan O'Reilly and the Nashville Predators on Friday, the Blues will then hit the road again to visit Chicago and Minnesota.
The Blues will face the Coyotes with a record of 9-7-1, worth 19 points and fourth in the Central Division.
COYOTES Since falling 2-1 at Enterprise Center, the Arizona Coyotes have gone an even 2-2-1. Both wins were on the road - against Nashville and Columbus - while the losses came at the hands of Dallas (overtime), Winnipeg and Los Angeles.
The Coyotes are looking to bounce back from the losses to Winnipeg and LA, their two most recent games heading into Wednesday's matchup. Though they struck first against the Jets, Arizona allowed three unanswered goals from the Kings en route to 5-2 and 4-1 losses, respectively.
Since facing the Blues on Nov. 9, Clayton Keller leads Arizona with five points - though is scoreless in the two losses. Lawson Crouse has also heated up, scoring three goals in the last five games for a team-leading eight on the season.
Rookie Logan Cooley continues his strong initial campaign, dishing three assists in the Nov. 11 win over Nashville. Cooley's 10 assists lead all NHL rookies, his 12 points ranking second.
After hosting the Blues, the Coyotes visit Vegas before a five-game stay at Mullett Arena - including another matchup with the Blues.
They enter the matchup with a record of 8-8-2, worth 18 points and fifth in the Central Division.
HEAD TO HEAD The Blues are 1-1-0 against Arizona this season, already facing off for a third time on Wednesday night and a fourth on Dec. 2. In their last seven matchups, the Blues are 4-3-0.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
BLUES Pavel Buchnevich, sharing the team lead with two goals on the current road trip. After beginning the season with three points in his first nine games, Buchnevich has five goals and three assists in his last six.
COYOTES Lawson Crouse, leading the Coyotes with eight goals this season. Crouse has three goals in his last four games and scored one earlier this season against St. Louis.
BLUE NOTES
At 8-0-0 after Sunday's game, the Blues are the only team in the NHL with no losses of any kind in games in which they score the first goal
The Blues are 7-0-0 when scoring at least three goals this season
The Blues' penalty kill in road games is currently 22-for-24 (91.7%) on the season, the fourth-best mark in the League and an improvement over last year's 70.7% road penalty-kill figure
The Blues' defensive efficiency of 2.71 goals against per game shares 7th in the NHL this season, only trailing the League-leading Bruins by just over 0.5 goals per game
Brayden Schenn's next point will be No. 600 in his NHL career
The St. Louis Blues are not a fancy team. To stay in the Western Conference playoff chase, they will need to grind out victories.
That's what they did during a 3-1 victory over the Ducks at Anaheim on Sunday -- and that will be their goal Wednesday as they cap a four-game Western trip by facing the Arizona Coyotes in Tempe, Ariz.
The Blues took 5-1 losses to the San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings to start their excursion. Then they regained their necessary identity against the Ducks.
"When we're forechecking like we did today and we're connected, winning a lot of puck battles and getting a lot of pucks back, I feel like that's how we've been creating some really good scoring chances," Blues forward Oskar Sundqvist said. "That hasn't been the last two games. It was back today, so we need to keep working on that, and staying on that forecheck game."
Jake Neighbours has goals in consecutive games. He and winger Alexey Toropchenko, who has three goals in his last eight games, have helped set a more aggressive tempo for the Blues in their checking line roles.
"We're not a team that's going to win hockey games if we're not outworking the opponent," Neighbours said. "We're at our best when we're skating, we're forechecking, backchecking, applying pressure. I thought we were all over them."
This was a contrast from the night before, when the Blues fell behind the Kings 4-0 in the first period.
"We're talking every day about it that we need to work hard right from the start and a full 60 minutes, no rest nowhere, maybe just on the bench a little bit," Toropchenko said. "But on the ice, you need to give 100 percent. That's what we're doing right now."
The Coyotes are 1-2-1 in their last four games. Like the Blues, they had their hands full against the Kings.
They outshot Los Angeles 31-25 overall Monday but went 0-for-6 on the power play during a 4-1 loss that snapped goaltender Connor Ingram's five-game winning streak.
"We had our looks, but obviously you don't want to try to come from behind (with) a team like that," Coyotes defenseman Sean Durzi said. "That's a team that's going to make you pay for your mistakes."
Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny liked how his team played during the first two periods before the Kings clamped down.
"We had the puck. That's the best defense," Tourigny said. "We had the puck a lot. We applied a lot of pressure. We did a lot of good things. I think we played solid defensively. Offensively we generated a lot of chances, (but) we just did not bury them.
"There's not much I can say about our performance. It's just one of those nights where we could not find a way to get it past the goalie."
Coyotes winger Lawson Crouse scored Monday, giving him eight goals in 10 games this month. In his last four games, he has scored three times and put 17 shots on goal.
The teams split their first two games in St. Louis this season, with the Coyotes winning 6-2 on Oct. 19 and the Blues prevailing 2-1 on Nov. 9.
