TEAM SNAPSHOTS
BLUES The St. Louis Blues return home for the first time since Oct. 30 after going 2-1-1 on a West coast road trip.
The trip finished with a thriller in Winnipeg on Tuesday night, a shootout win led by one of the best games of Jordan Binnington's career. Binnington made 39 saves over the course of the game and stopped all four of the Jets' shootout attempts to seal the win.
"He really won that for us," Jordan Kyrou said of Binnington's impressive performance. "We all know what (he's) capable of, and he always brings it. It's definitely awesome to have him back there, it's a relief."
Kyrou recorded a goal and an assist in the win, including his first goal since netting two in a win at Arizona on Oct. 18.
After their long road trip, the Blues will now look to build momentum at home, with four of their next five games being played at Enterprise Center over the next week.
The Blues are 8-2-1 heading into Thursday's game, good for first place in the Central Divison and tied for second in the Western Conference as of Wednesday afternoon.
PREDATORS The Nashville Predators will be on their second night of a back-to-back Thursday, coming off a 4-2 win on Wednesday night against the Dallas Stars. Thursday's game in St. Louis will mark the end of the Predators' six-game road trip, their longest of the season.
Nashville currently sits at 7-5-1, good for fourth place in the Central Division.
The Predators are currently without forward Filip Forsberg, who was recently placed on injured reserve with an upper-body injury. Forsberg is fifth on the team in points with four goals and three assists over nine games played this season.
This season is the Predators' first without longtime goaltender Pekka Rinne, who announced his retirement this summer and holds the club's goalie records for games played, wins and shutouts.
Juuse Saros has been the starter this year after sharing duties with Rinne last season, and is currently carrying a .925 save percentage and 2.31 goals-against average in his 10 starts.
HEAD-TO-HEAD Thursday night will mark the first game between the Blues and Predators since Feb. 16, 2020 - a 2-1 Predators win in Nashville.
The Blues were winless vs. the Predators in 2019-20, going 0-4 and being outscored 13-8.
The last Blues' win against the Predators came on Feb. 26, 2019 by a score of 2-0 prior to the Blues' run to the 2019 Stanley Cup.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
BLUES Pavel Buchnevich is starting to build up some steam after serving a two-game suspension just two games into his Blues tenure. Buchnevich has three points in his last three games, including a goal and an assist Tuesday night at Winnipeg.
PREDATORS Roman Josi has played 40 career games against the Blues, the second-most of any team in the NHL. The Predators captain currently leads the team in assists, points and plus/minus this season.
BLUE NOTES
The Blues are 3-2-0 in their last five home games against Nashville... Vladimir Tarasenko has 30 points (14 goals, 16 assists) in 33 career regular-season games against the Predators... James Neal spent three seasons with the Predators, recording 77 goals in 219 regular-season games... Nashville's Luke Kunin is a native of Chesterfield, MO and was drafted in the first round (No. 15 overall) by the Minnesota Wild in 2016.
The St. Louis Blues will look to extend their early-season roll when they host the Central Division-rival Nashville Predators on Thursday.
The Blues have taken just two regulation losses in their first 11 games. They return home after a 2-1-1 road trip.
"You're in good shape if you get more than 50 percent points," St. Louis winger Pavel Buchnevich said. "It's a good trip. Happy to get the points. Long trip and we want to go home."
The Predators won 4-2 at Dallas on Wednesday night, making them 3-1-1 on their current six-game road trip and they are 6-1-1 in their last eight games overall.
"I thought tonight was a really good game all the way through the lineup," Predators winger Tanner Jeannot told Bally Sports South after the victory, in which he had a goal and an assist. "Everybody bore down when they needed to. We were pretty good in our D zone, which is something we wanted to work on coming into this back-to-back here."
Nashville started Juuse Saros in goal Wednesday, so there is a good chance backup David Rittich could make his debut against the Blues. He missed the first month of the season due to COVID-19 protocols.
Since St. Louis goalie Jordan Binnington is coming off a strong performance in a 3-2 shootout victory at Winnipeg -- 39 saves in the game, then four saves in the shootout -- he figures to start against the Predators.
The Blues will be looking to re-establish their puck possession game after the Jets outplayed them for much of the Tuesday night contest.
"We didn't move the puck very well, just through the neutral zone," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "That's the biggest thing. A lot of times not predictable enough and not north enough. You gotta just advance things. Especially on the road, in the second period. You got tough line changes. You gotta just simplify it and be more predictable."
The Blues made a roster adjustment ahead of the Nashville game, sending rookie Jake Neighbours back to the Edmonton Oil Kings of the Western Hockey League. They want the 19-year-old winger to continue his development while leaving him in consideration to play for Team Canada in the World Junior Championships.
"I think he could have survived this year, but when you have a prospect, you're going to count on more than that," Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said. "I think surviving isn't enough."
The Blues recalled forward Dakota Joshua from their Springfield affiliate in the AHL to replace him. Also, forwards Brayden Schenn (upper-body injury) and Oskar Sundqvist (knee surgery) are nearing their return.
The Predators placed forwards Filip Forsberg and Nick Cousins on injured reserve Tuesday. Both are sidelined on a week-to-week basis with upper-body injuries. Michael McCarron and Mathieu Olivier arrived from Milwaukee of the AHL to replace them, and both played Wednesday at Dallas.
Nashville defenseman Alexandre Carrier exited the Wednesday game after being hit the back of the head by a slap shot. He is questionable for the Thursday contest.
