Let's Go Blues

BLUES (22-6-3) vs. SENATORS (13-15-6)

TV: FS-MW, SNET-E, TVA

Last 10: St. Louis 7-3-0; Ottawa 4-4-2

Season Series: The St. Louis Blues and Ottawa Senators play the first of two games in 2013-14. David Perron scored twice and Brian Elliott made 28 saves to lead the Blues to a 3-1 win against the Senators in Ottawa on Feb. 7, 2012.

Big Story: The Blues arrive in Ottawa on the tail end of a two-game road trip and riding the momentum of a 4-3 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday. St. Louis won for the second time this season when trailing after two periods and coach Ken Hitchcock paid homage to Chris Stewart's toughness for paving the way to victory.

Stewart missed the second period with a hand injury, but returned in the third and tied the game with less than seven minutes to play.

''Chris Stewart showed a lot of guts and courage,'' Hitchcock said. "His hand was sore. He ends up scoring the tying goal. He gave us a real inspiration.''

Winners of three straight and four of five, the Blues enter Monday tied for the fewest regulation losses in the NHL (6) and are 11-3 against the Eastern Conference. They play a Senators team that is 6-9-3 at Canadian Tire Centre and 7-12-4 when it doesn't score first.

Team Scope:

Blues: Stewart's grit sparked the Blues and David Backes' 16th goal 22 seconds into overtime completed a comeback from down 3-1 Saturday. Goalie Jaroslav Halak stopped the final 26 shots he faced in the win.

“I think everybody had a piece in every part of this game, their team and our team,” Hitchcock said.

Elliott, who played for the Senators from 2007-11, will start in goal for the Blues.

Senators: Ottawa goalie Craig Anderson allowed two goals on four shots in 4:18 before being pulled early in the Senators' eventual 5-2 loss to the Los Angeles Kings. The Senators are faced with a decision whether to go back to Anderson against the Blues or start Robin Lehner, who gave up three goals on 22 shots after taking over Saturday.

"We're going to wait, I'm still pondering that," Senators coach Paul MacLean said Sunday. "I haven't talked to [goaltending coach] Rick Wamsley yet. We've been doing a lot of stuff here today with getting stuff organized for St. Louis. We just haven't taken the time to sit down and discuss it. We'll do that before we leave today, we just don't have that decision right now."

Who's hot: Backes has five points (4-1-5) in his past four games and 10 in his past 15. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it's the most Backes has scored through any 15-game stretch since he had 10 from Jan. 6-Feb. 11, 2011. Stewart has two goals and an assist in his past two games. … Senators forward Bobby Ryan is 1-3-4 in his past five.

Injury report: Blues center Vladimir Sobotka (upper body) left the game Saturday and is day-to-day. Jordan Leopold (right index finger surgery) and Ryan Reaves (broken right hand) are on injured reserve … Senators defenseman Marc Methot (flu-like symptons) practiced Sunday and told reporters he's ready to go.

Follow Jon Lane on Twitter: @JonLaneNHL

KPFBlue wrote:I'm surprised at how unbelievably gritty** the Senators were tonight. First Neil goes knee-to-knee on Steen, leading to a fight with Jackman, in which he continues to take shots at Jackman while the ref has Barrett's arms at his sides. Then, the cross-check to the chin of Backes, leading to a probable concussion. Wish Reaves had been there to publically execute somebody...





**Effing Cheap and Dirty