GDT #49: Blues vs Blue Jackets | 7:00 pm CT | BSMW, NHLN, 101 ESPN

[theohall]

BLUES The St. Louis Blues won their fifth straight game on Sunday at Enterprise Center, extending their season-long win streak. With one game remaining before the All-Star Break, the Blues have worked their way back into the playoff picture and possess a Western Conference Wild Card spot after their 4-3 overtime win over Los Angeles.

In addition to their five wins in a row, the Blues have won their last four games by 4-3 margins and their last three in overtime. Brayden Schenn took home the second point in Vancouver and against the Kings, while Pavel Buchnevich lifted the Blues over the Kraken.

"We're playing really strong as a team and we always have each other's backs out there," said Jordan Kyrou after the game. "We've showed a lot of resiliency these past couple games."

In addition to Schenn and Buchnevich's clutch contributions, the Blues have gotten valuable production out of Kyrou and Robert Thomas over the win streak. Thomas, as he prepares to head back to his hometown Toronto for the 2024 NHL All-Star Game, has a team-leading eight points over the five-game stretch. Kyrou's three points led the team on Sunday, with two goals and three assists since the streak began on Jan. 20.

The Blues have one more game before a 10-day break surrounding All-Star Weekend, hosting the Columbus Blue Jackets with a critical opportunity to maintain their Wild Card spot. They'll come back from the break with three games on the road, starting with a back-to-back in Buffalo and Montreal.

The Blues face the Blue Jackets with a record of 26-20-2, worth 54 points and fourth place in the Central Division.

BLUE JACKETS Since beating the Blues 5-2 on Dec. 8, the Columbus Blue Jackets have struggled in the win column. They have won two of their last nine games (2-5-2), most recently a 4-2 loss in Seattle on Sunday night. The Kraken got out to a 3-0 lead in the first, and two third-period goals from Yegor Chinakhov were not enough to get the Blue Jackets the win.

Blue Jackets star rookie forward Adam Fantilli left the game with a lower-body injury in the second period, and Columbus Head Coach Pascal Vincent ruled him questionable for Tuesday night after the game.

Fantilli shares second on the team with 27 points in 49 games this season, No. 4 among all NHL rookies at just 19 years old. Fellow Jackets rookie Dmitri Vorkunov has also shown promise, his 24 points ranking seventh among the League's rookies this year.

Johnny Gaudreau, leading Columbus with 31 points, has improved his scoring from earlier in the season. Through their matchup with the Blues on Dec. 8, Gaudreau had just 15 points in 29 games. In the 20 games since then, however, Gaudreau has another 16 points including six in his last seven games.

The Blue Jackets, also playing their last game before the All-Star Break, are at the end of a five-game road trip through the Pacific Division. Like the Blues, Columbus visited Calgary, Vancouver and Seattle - also visiting the Oilers. Jackets Captain Boone Jenner will represent the team in Toronto for his first All-Star Game, his 13 goals this year only trailing Chinakhov and Kirill Marchenko for the team lead.

The Blue Jackets visit the Blues with a record of 15-24-10, worth 40 points and eighth in the Metropolitan Division.

HEAD TO HEAD The Blue Jackets won the first matchup of the season, 5-2 on Dec. 8 in Columbus. The Blues went 2-0-0 against Columbus last year with a 10-4 goal margin and are 5-2-1 in their last eight matchups.

PLAYERS TO WATCH
BLUES Robert Thomas, who leads the Blues with 17 goals, 35 assists and 52 points this year. With one on Sunday vs. L.A., he has now recorded an assist in five straight games (1-7--8), one shy of matching his career-long assist streak.

BLUE JACKETS Johnny Gaudreau, leading the Blue Jackets with 31 points this season. Gaudreau has one assist each in his last two games and has 25 points in 24 career games against St. Louis.

BLUE NOTES
The Blues' five-game win streak is their longest since they won seven games in a row last season from Nov. 10, 2022 to Nov. 21, 2022

The Blues have won three consecutive games in overtime for the third time in franchise history, previously occurring in March 2018 and November 2019

Brayden Schenn's overtime goal against the Kings was his seventh as a Blue, which shares second in franchise history behind Vladimir Tarasenko's 10 overtime goals.

The Blues have won four straight games with an exact score of 4-3, the first occurrence in NHL history where the same team won 4 consecutive games 4-3 (reg. season and in same season)

Over their five-game win streak, the Blues have scored 19 goals, which ranks fourth in the NHL

Pavel Buchnevich has scored at least one goal in each of the last three games, putting him one shy of his career record four-game goal streak

[theohall]

NHL Network did it again..... it's on NHLN for out of network folks.

[theohall]

Would've been pissed if I'd paid for tickets to see this game live with how little effort the Blues put forth. Like NHL Radio said, both teams played like they were already in Cabo.

[flyingnote38]

saw a rumor Parayko and Blais to the leafs for Reaves, Jarnkrok, Niemela and a 1st

would help the cap situation some

[theohall]

If it's a rumor involving the Leafs and Parayko, I'd ignore it. He always seems to come up in Leafs rumors which never happen. The question is who replaces Parayko whose currently the Blues best defenseman. However, if Niemela continues on the path he's shown with the Marlies, he could be the replacement. Jarnkrok would just be the 7th defenseman replacing Bortuzzo essentially. This one actually makes some sense for once, although it would be disappointing seeing Parayko traded. Depends on how serious Armstrong is about a "re-tool" because that trade would likely result in the Blues writing off this season. We've already seen this team not put forth the effort when it's clear they aren't going anywhere. That would likely happen again if this trade went through. It might be a good test to see who the Blues really want to keep moving forward beyond the obvious choices. And if they move Parayko, they might as well try and trade Buchnevich who has a very high trade value right now.