TEAM SNAPSHOTS
BLUES After a tough Thanksgiving road trip, the St. Louis Blues found their offense again with a 6-3 win over Columbus back at Enterprise Center on Saturday night. Pavel Buchnevich continued his strong play with two goals and an assist, totaling six points over his last three games.
Buchnevich wasn't the only Russian to make noise on Saturday. Ivan Barbashev added two goals to the winning effort, and Vladimir Tarasenko recorded three assists.
The Blues trailed 1-0 after the first period, but quickly flipped the script and scored three goals each in the second and third periods to take over the game.
"We've been having a tough time the last couple games, we didn't play great," Barbashev said. "I think it was time to turn around things and play simple, hard, and that's what we did in the second, and it looks like the game turned around, and it was good to win the game."
After playing their only game with a full roster all season at Detroit last week, the Blues caught the injury bug again and expect to be without forwards David Perron, Klim Kostin and James Neal on Tuesday.
Logan Brown, a St. Louis native acquired in a trade during this preseason, was called up Sunday and could make his regular-season debut on Tuesday night.
The Blues currently sit with an 11-7-3 record, good for 25 points and trailing only Minnesota for the Central Division lead as of Monday afternoon.
LIGHTNING The two-time defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning have been trying to climb back atop the standings after a slow start to their three-peat pursuit. They started the season 2-3-1, but since Oct. 26 are 10-2-2 and trail only the red-hot Maple Leafs and Panthers in the Eastern Conference's Atlantic division.
On Sunday night, the Lightning fell to the Wild 4-2 in Minneapolis, with their goals coming from Corey Perry and Alex Killorn. The Wild broke a 2-2 tie in the third period with a goal from forward Ryan Hartman, and then sealed it with an empty-netter after Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy skated to the bench in the closing minutes.
The Wild's first-period goal ended a 141:29 shutout streak for Vasilevskiy, who was coming off of consecutive shutouts against the Flyers and the Kraken.
Captain Steven Stamkos has been the top point contributor for the Lightning this season, leading the team with 11 goals and 24 points in 20 games played.
The Bolts are also dealing with a slate of injuries. Forward Nikita Kucherov underwent a procedure three games into the season, forward Brayden Point suffered an upper-body injury on Nov. 20, and defenseman Erik Cernak has missed the last eight games but could make his return on Tuesday.
In total, the Lightning sit at 12-5-3, good for 27 points and third place in the Atlantic Division as of Monday afternoon.
HEAD-TO-HEAD The Lightning have won back-to-back Stanley Cups since their last matchup with the Blues - a 4-3 road win for St. Louis on Nov. 27, 2019.
The 734 days between matchups will be followed by just a two-day break as the teams will finish the home-and-home set on Thursday in Tampa Bay.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
BLUES Ivan Barbashev has 13 points this season in 21 games, surpassing his point total from last season in 38 games played. He is on pace for a career season, halfway to his personal-best 26 points in 69 games in 2019-20. Barbashev's two-goal game on Saturday night was his first since Feb. 18, 2020.
LIGHTNING On Tuesday night, forward Pat Maroon will play his first game back in his hometown in more than two years. The 33-year-old St. Louis native has five points so far this season, three of which have come in the past five games. Maroon recorded seven points in the playoffs for the Blues during the 2018-19 Stanley Cup run, and is the only active NHL player with three consecutive championships.
BLUE NOTES
Torey Krug has a goal and 23 assists in 27 career games vs. the Lightning... The Blues have won 17 of their 21 all-time home games vs. Tampa Bay, including both of the last two... Tuesday night's game marks the second of seven consecutive games against the East for the Blues... The matchup will also mark Brandon Saad's 650th career game.
The St. Louis Blues will try to start their first winning streak in more than a month when they host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday.
The Blues have not won back-to-back games since they opened the season with a five-game winning streak in October.
"Last few games, like, we lose one, win one," Blues winger Vladimir Tarasenko said. "We should be more consistent."
The Blues defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 6-3 on Saturday for just their third victory in their last 10 games. They picked up their play after getting a stern lecture from coach Craig Berube between the first and second period.
"Well, we needed something," Berube said. "In the first period, we got clearly outskated. Coming out, this game at home, we can't start like that."
That poor start came after the Blues faded late in their 3-2 overtime road loss to the Chicago Blackhawks.
"We've been having a tough time the last couple games," forward Ivan Barbashev said. "I think it was time to turn around things and play simple, hard, and that's what we did in the second (period), and it looks like the game turned around."
The Lightning will be looking to get back on track after suffering a 4-2 road loss to the Minnesota Wild on Sunday. That was just the second regulation loss in their last 14 games.
"A couple of breakdowns, that's the difference in the game," coach Jon Cooper said.
"I thought it was a close game," Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman said. "The second period had to kill off a few penalties. That third goal is on me. For some reason, I thought they had three guys in the corner, and I left a man alone in front. Small differences in the game that cost us at the end."
With key forward Brayden Point shelved for several weeks with an upper-body injury, the Lightning are looking for other forwards to provide offense.
Winger Corey Perry has a four-game point streak after producing just one point in his first 16 games this season.
"He's getting tons of chances," Cooper said.
With wingers James Neal and Klim Kostin on injured reserve and forward David Perron sidelined with an upper-body injury, the Blues recalled forward Logan Brown from Springfield of the AHL for this game.
The Lightning lost forward Mathieu Joseph to an undisclosed injury during the game at Minnesota. He is one of the team's top checkers and penalty killers.
"When he goes down, it's just for a lot of guys playing PK, guys double shifting on the PK and stuff," Lightning winger Alex Killorn said. "It's just a lot of minutes."
Joseph is questionable for this game. On the plus side, defenseman Erik Cernak could return for this game after spending the last eight games on the injured list.
"It will be a game-time decision," Cooper said.
This game starts a home-and-home sequence for these teams, who play again Thursday night in Tampa.
