GDT #48: Blues vs Kings | 1:00 pm CT | BSMW, 101 ESPN

[theohall]

BLUES The St. Louis Blues have played some of their best hockey of the season this week, winning three close games on the road over Pacific Division teams - including two teams neck-and-neck with the Blues in the Wild Card standings.

The road trip began in Calgary, where the Blues mounted a comeback from a 3-1 deficit. Brandon Saad's goal - his second of the game - gave them the lead with just 48 seconds left in regulation. Then in Vancouver, on the second night of a back-to-back against the top team in the Western Conference, the Blues had to withstand a comeback against them including an equalizing goal with 52 seconds left. Brayden Schenn buried the overtime winner to give the Blues a second straight close win.

Friday night's matchup bore a strong resemblance to Wednesday, with the Blues again facing a 3-1 deficit in the second period. Pavel Buchnevich was the hero this time around, scoring consecutive goals in the third period and overtime to lift the Blues over the Kraken and complete the road trip 3-0-0.

"Huge road trip," said Robert Thomas, who posted five points over the three wins. "We knew it was a tough task. We couldn't be happier to get three wins."

Prior to the road trip, the Blues sat in sixth in the Wild Card standings and 12th overall in the Western Conference. Ahead of Saturday's games, just five days later, the Blues are now third in the Wild Card - trailing both Nashville and Los Angeles by a single point - and ninth overall in the West.

The Blues have one more crucial matchup, this time back at Enterprise Center as the Kings visit for an afternoon bout. A regulation win over LA, which would be the Blues' fifth in a row, would place them in a Wild Card Playoff position. Their last game before the All-Star Break comes on Tuesday, when the Columbus Blue Jackets visit St. Louis.

The Blues host the Kings with a record of 25-20-2, worth 52 points and fifth in the Central Division.

KINGS Opposite the Blues' current hot streak, the Los Angeles Kings have struggled since late December. They have won just two out of their last 15 games (2-8-5), including an active three-game losing streak (0-2-1). The Kings, who were second in the West as of Dec. 7, are now in danger of falling out of a playoff position when they visit the Blues on Sunday.

The Kings' latest game came at Colorado's Ball Arena, where the Avs quickly got out to a 3-0 lead. Kevin Fiala put the Kings on the board with a power-play goal in the second period, but they were unable to mount a comeback and fell 5-1. Despite three separate Avalanche penalties in the third period, the Kings were unable to find the back of the net and eventually gave up a game-sealing power-play goal to Cale Makar late in regulation.

Fiala and Adrian Kempe lead the Kings this season with 42 points each, while Trevor Moore's 21 goals lead the club.

Longtime King and 2023 Lady Byng Trophy winner Anze Kopitar is third on the team with 40 points, playing his 18th season in LA. Kopitar has reached some key milestones this season, becoming the franchise record holder in (regular-season) games played on Oct. 21 and the Kings' all-time assist leader on Dec. 3. The 36-year-old forward also moved into second on the Kings' all-time points leaderboard this season, now trailing Hockey Hall of Famer Marcel Dionne by 126 points.

The Kings' visit to St. Louis marks the second of three straight games in Central Division buildings. LA heads to Nashville to close out their pre-All-Star schedule, hoping to stay in a playoff spot going into the break.

The Kings head to Enterprise Center to face the Blues with a record of 22-15-9, worth 53 points and fourth in the Pacific Division.

HEAD TO HEAD The Blues fell 5-1 at Crypto.com Arena earlier this season, with Sunday's tilt marking their second of three games. The Blues are 4-5-2 in their last 11 games against the Kings, but are 2-1-0 in their last three matchups at Enterprise Center.

PLAYERS TO WATCH
BLUES Pavel Buchnevich, who scored two goals - including the overtime winner - and added an assist in Seattle on Friday night. After a cold stretch in which he logged just one point over six games, Buchnevich has eight in his last eight games and five over the Blues' current win streak.

KINGS Kevin Fiala, sharing the team lead with 42 points and leading the Kings outright with 30 assists this season. Fiala has five points in his last five games and scored a goal against the Blues earlier this season.

BLUE NOTES
Jordan Kyrou is expected to dress in his 300th career game and Jake Neighbours is expected to dress in his 100th career game on Sunday against Los Angeles.

Robert Thomas recorded his 200th career assist on Tuesday at Calgary, becoming the third Blue in franchise history to record at least 200 assists prior to turning 25 years old and first since Doug Gilmour in 1987-88

On Friday at Seattle, Pavel Buchnevich became the seventh player in Blues history to score a game-tying goal in the third period and the overtime winner in the same contest. The last time it happened was on March 21, 2018 by Jaden Schwartz

The Blues power play is 14-for-53 (26.4%) since Drew Bannister's first game as head coach on Dec. 14, which ranks 6th in the NHL. Before Bannister took over, the Blues power play was 7-for-83 (8.4%), which ranked 31st in the NHL

The Blues' nine power-play goals since Jan. 11 share the most in the NHL with Tampa Bay, Minnesota & Los Angeles

After a win on Friday night in Seattle, Jordan Binnington has posted a 6-1-1 record with a 2.22 GAA, a .927 SV%, and one shutout in his last eight starts. Binnington has 134 career wins, which sits just three shy of matching Curtis Joseph for No. 3 on the Blues all-time franchise leaderboard

[theohall]

NHL Network picked up this game for us out of area folks. Didn't realize that until just now.

[theohall]

Kempe straight hooks Neighbours to the ice to get the puck and setup his own goal.... should've been hooking on Kempe if what Parayko did was hooking. Blues need to start putting forth some friggin' effort...

[JCShutout]

Will be interesting so see how the blues do today. A win and they’re in a playoff spot (albeit barely)

I wonder how this recent run influences the trade deadline.

[glen a richter]

It was only a matter of time before Perunovich got hurt.

[theohall]

Still... the thomas/buchnevich/kyrou/neighbours power play looked way better with Perunovich than Krug. The slower puck movement and lack of movement along the blueline was glaring when Krug replaced Perunovich.