TEAM SNAPSHOTS
BLUES A few late goals have kept the St. Louis Blues from collecting points in each of their two games this weekend.
On Saturday night, Brendan Smith scored with 2:57 left in regulation to break a 2-2 tie and secure a win for the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena. On Sunday, it was Edmonton's Kailer Yamamoto, who beat Jordan Binnington with 28 seconds left to help the Oilers to a 5-4 victory at Enterprise Center.
"Looking at a positive, we're fighting back. Every goal they get, we seem to respond well and get back into the game," said Blues forward Robert Thomas. "That's a positive, but these late goals are killers."
"It's just frustrating," added defenseman Robert Bortuzzo, who scored in Sunday's contest. "I think every guy in that room knows how valuable points are, no matter what time of year it is, the League's too competitive, there's too much parity. Strong division. So it's frustrating to give a few of those away, especially tonight where I thought we had great energy and a little lapse in the second but overall, I thought, good, strong spurts of hockey, similar to [Saturday] night, where we kind of played a good third period. Just frustrating."
The Blues could see the debut of defenseman Scott Perunovich on Tuesday night. Perunovich was recalled from the AHL's Springfield Thunderbirds on Monday and was tied for the league lead in points with 20 - as a defenseman. Joel Hofer and Dakota Joshua were also assigned to Springfield, meaning Ville Husso will return to the lineup after being on the team's COVID-19 protocol list.
COYOTES The Arizona Coyotes enter Tuesday's game against the Blues in dead last in the NHL standings, and by a considerable margin.
The Coyotes have collected just three points in 15 games this season (1-13-1).
Their only win came on Nov. 6 against the expansion Seattle Kraken.
Defenseman Shane Gostisbehere, who was acquired in an offseason trade from the Philadelphia Flyers, leads the team in points with 12 (two goals, 10 assists) in 15 games. St. Louis native Clayton Keller (three goals, three assists) ranks third.
Arizona is without former Blue Dmitrij Jaskin, who was injured Saturday in Nashville. Christian Fisher is also on injured reserve, Nick Schmaltz is day-to-day with an injury, and Andrew Ladd and Johan Larsson are among the players in COVID-19 protocols.
HEAD-TO-HEAD The Blues beat the Coyotes 7-4 in the first meeting between the teams this season (Oct. 18 at Gila River Arena). Klim Kostin scored two goals in 47 seconds in the game, the quickest pair by a Blue since Herb Raglan on Nov. 28, 1987.
The Blues have lost their last three home games to the Coyotes (0-2-1).
Pavel Buchnevich has four goals in six career games against Arizona, while Justin Faulk has 15 points (six goals, nine assists) and a plus-17 rating in 25 career games against the Coyotes.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
BLUES Robert Thomas, who has recorded multiple assists in three consecutive games. On Sunday, Thomas recorded the third three-assist game of his NHL career. He ranks fifth in the League with 14 helpers this season, just three behind Edmonton's Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who are tied for first with 17.
COYOTES Clayton Keller, who always seems to be on his A-game when facing the Blues. Keller has more points against St. Louis (18) than any other team he's faced in his NHL career. The 23-year-old forward is a native of Chesterfield, MO.
BLUE NOTES
Vladimir Tarasenko has at least one point in each of the Blues' six home games this season. He has goals in three straight games for the first time since Feb. 14-17, 2019. The Blues are 136-41-12 all time when Tarasenko scores in a regular-season game… Jordan Binnington is 16-1-2 in Tuesday games in his career… Jordan Kyrou has points in four straight games (four goals, two assists). Ryan O'Reilly is two assists shy of 400 in his career.
The St. Louis Blues will try to snap a three-game winless streak when they host the struggling Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday night.
After starting the season 8-2-1, the Blues suffered a 4-3 overtime loss to Nashville at home Thursday, then a 3-2 loss at Carolina on Saturday and a 5-4 loss at Edmonton on Sunday.
"I think we're a confident group in there," Blues center Robert Thomas said. "We're off to a good start. These last three games haven't gone our way, but the resilience is there and that's a big part of what's made us successful in the past, and it's good to see we've still got it. Just about closing it out."
Meanwhile the Coyotes have staggered to a 1-13-1 start. They carry a three-game losing streak into this game in St. Louis.
"We talk about belief a lot as a group," Coyotes defenseman Jakob Chychrun said. "It's something that you need to have if you're going to win hockey games. So it's something we have to continue to work at and talk about. Just look in the mirror and make sure we're giving our best effort every night.
"We're not a team that's going to be able to out-skill teams and go out and out-score teams, so we really have to play a really sound, near-perfect game. And we're not really giving ourselves chances at that right now."
In their last two losses, the Blues allowed late third-period goals while failing to collect a point.
"It's just frustrating," Blues defenseman Robert Bortuzzo said. "I think every guy in that room knows how valuable points are, no matter what time of year it is.
"The league's too competitive, there's too much parity. Strong division. So frustrating to give a few of those away, especially tonight where I thought we had great energy, and a little lapse in the second. But overall, I thought, good, strong spurts of hockey, similar to (Saturday) night, where we kind of played a good third period. Just frustrating."
In their previous meeting this season, the Blues defeated the Coyotes 7-4 on Oct. 18. Jordan Kyrou and Klim Kostin scored two goals each for the Blues while St. Louis-area native Clayton Keller had a goal and an assist for the Coyotes.
The Blues made roster moves ahead of this game. With goaltender Ville Husso back from the COVID-19 list, the Blues returned goaltender Joel Hofer, defenseman Calle Rosen and forward Dakota Joshua to Springfield of the AHL.
That created the salary-cap space needed to promote top defensive prospect Scott Perunovich from Springfield -- where he racked up 20 points in 12 games.
Former Blues winger Dmitrij Jaskin won't get to face his old team. Jaskin was injured on a knee-on-knee hit during Arizona's 4-1 loss at Nashville on Saturday.
"It's long term," Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny said. "It's lower-body, but it will be really long term."
The Coyotes wooed Jaskin back from the KHL with a free-agent contract, but he produced just one assist in 12 games before getting hurt.
