TEAM SNAPSHOTS
BLUES The St. Louis Blues will enter Saturday's matchup against Chicago looking to bounce back from their first loss of the regular season on Thursday night.
Vladimir Tarasenko had a goal and an assist, while Colton Parayko and Brayden Schenn scored in a 4-3 loss to the Colorado Avalanche. The game was the Blues' first without captain Ryan O'Reilly, who was on the COVID protocol list and missed his first game since joining the Blues in the summer of 2018.
"They're a good team over there. They play fast, we knew that," Schenn said after the game. "I don't think we had skating legs tonight, I don't think we moved our feet enough and the result was for us to play probably too much in our own end."
"They're a very good team, they're hard to play against," added Blues Head Coach Craig Berube. "If we want to consistently beat them and compete with them, we have to play for 60 minutes. We only played for 20 tonight."
As of Friday afternoon, the Blues sat first in the Western Conference with 10 points (5-1-0) in six games.
BLACKHAWKS The Chicago Blackhawks will be playing their second game of a back-to-back when they travel to St. Louis to face the Blues on Saturday night.
On Friday, the Blackhawks dropped a 6-3 decision to the Carolina Hurricanes and fell to 0-6-2 on the season. Chicago is one of just two teams without a victory (Arizona).
Chicago has a handful of players on the COVID protocol list, including Patrick Kane, Henrik Borgstrom, Riley Stillman and Jujhar Khaira. Those players' status for Saturday is unknown.
Offseason additions for the Blackhawks include goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, who Chicago obtained in an offseason trade from the Vegas Golden Knights, and defensemen Seth Jones, Caleb Jones and Jake McCabe. The team also has captain Jonathan Toews back after he missed last season due to choronic immune response syndrome.
HEAD-TO-HEAD Saturday's game will be the Blues' first against a team not included in the West Division last season. The Blues and Blackhawks haven't met in a regular-season game since March 8, 2020 - a 2-0 Blues' win at United Center.
The Blues have won the last four meetings between the teams, outscoring the Blackhawks 16-8.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
BLUES Jordan Binnington, who is 10-1-3 in his last 14 regular-season starts. Binnington started 4-0-0 in his career for the first time and is 5-1-1 in his last seven regular-season games at Enterprise Center.
BLACKHAWKS Seth Jones, who played 28 minutes and 11 seconds on Wednesday against Toronto and netted two assists for his first multi-point effort with the Blackhawks. Seth has six assists in his last six games.
BLUE NOTES
Tarasenko is on a five-game point streak and has recorded multi-point outings in each of his last three games… The Blues have allowed only two power-play goals in 21 chances against in their first six games, which ranked fourth overall as of Friday (90.5%)… David Perron will tie Al MacInnis (613) for 12th on the Blues' all-time games played list.
After suffering their first loss of the season, the St. Louis Blues will try to get back on track while hosting the winless Chicago Blackhawks Saturday night.
"We have to get back to our game," Blues defenseman Jake Walman said. "Can't be worried about anything else, just play our system and the rest will take care of itself."
The Blues started their season 5-0 before falling to the Colorado Avalanche 4-3 Thursday on home ice.
"Third period we fought back in the game," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "I like that about our team, we fight to the end. You had an opportunity to tie there, just missed."
But, he added, "We need everybody on board to be ready to be on board when we play Colorado, any team. We need everybody on board to be ready to do their job."
Meanwhile, the Blackhawks have staggered to an 0-6-2 start while being outscored 36-17. They lost 6-3 Friday night to the Carolina Hurricanes to start a quick two-game, two-night road swing.
"I think a lot of guys in this locker room still believe in this hockey team," Blackhawks forward Brandon Hagel said after the game. "We have a really good hockey team.
"We've got a ton of hockey left. I believe we've got a good enough team and enough character to get out of this."
The Blues' loss to the Avalanche came in their first game without No. 1 center and team captain Ryan O'Reilly, who is sidelined in COVID-19 protocol. They kept Thursday's game close despite getting outshot 42-18 while struggling to sustain puck possession against the swarming Avalanche.
"They're a good team over there," Blues forward Brayden Schenn said. "They play fast. We knew that. I don't think we had skating legs tonight, I don't think we moved our feet enough, and the result was for us to play probably way too much in our own end."
The Blackhawks game will cap a four-game Blues home stand that began with 7-3 and 3-0 victories over the Los Angeles Kings.
The Blues will almost certainly start No. 1 goaltender Jordan Binnington (4-1-0, 3.02 goals-against average). After starting Kevin Lankinen in the nets Friday night, the Blackhawks are likely to start Marc-Andre Fleury (0-4-0, 5.75 GAA) in this game.
The Blackhawks had Patrick Kane, Henrik Borgstrom and Riley Stillman in COVID-19 protocol as of Friday while the Blues were missing O'Reilly and Brandon Saad for the same reason.
Also, Blackhawks center Tyler Johnson will likely miss Saturday night's game after exiting midway through Friday night's game after absorbing a cross-check.
"We're not sure, we still got to evaluate him further," Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton said. "He wasn't close to coming back tonight, and we'll see how he is tomorrow. But I wouldn't expect him for tomorrow."
