TEAM SNAPSHOTS
BLUES The St. Louis Blues opened their back-to-back road set with a hard-fought loss against the No. 2 team in the NHL, the Boston Bruins.
Though the losing streak extended to seven regulation games, the Blues made the Bruins work for every inch. Boston's three goals share the fewest allowed by the Blues through this stretch as Jordan Binnington made his best effort in goal to keep his team in the game.
Brayden Schenn scored the Blues' lone goal, going end-to-end and finishing a clean pass from Jordan Kyrouin front of the net. Kyrou recorded his first assist on the season as he looks to heat up his offensive play.
"Effort was there tonight - we showed up, we competed hard, that's a good team they got over there (in Boston)," said Schenn. "We just gotta find a way to score goals and get the results we want."
Coming off another loss and heading towards another of the NHL's hottest goaltenders, the Blues will have their work cut out for them as they look to get their season back on track in Philadelphia.
Through 10 games, the Blues are 3-7-0 for six points.
FLYERS After missing the Playoffs last year, the Philadelphia Flyers are seeing some positive early results. They began their season with a three-game win streak and have earned points in all but three games while facing a difficult schedule.
Philadelphia is coming off of a 2-1 win in Ottawa, their first game against longtime Flyer Claude Giroux since his departure for Florida via trade last year and then signing with the Senators this summer. Giroux, who played exactly 1,000 games for the Flyers, scored Ottawa's only goal as Philadelphia came out on top.
Travis Konecny has been producing for the Flyers early on, scoring 12 points in 11 games to lead the team. The 25-year-old forward has six points in his last five games, including an assist in the win over Ottawa.
The Flyers are hoping that new Head Coach John Tortorella can use his long resume to help Philadelphia turn things around from last year. Tortorella has coached nearly 1,400 games behind NHL benches, won two Jack Adams Trophies as the NHL's Coach of the Year, and won a Stanley Cup coaching the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2003-04.
Philadelphia will host the Blues with a 6-3-2 record, worth 14 points and fourth place in the Metropolitan Division as of Monday afternoon.
HEAD-TO-HEAD The Blues went 1-1-0 against the Flyers last season, with each team winning on the road. In their last five matchups, the Blues are 3-1-1 and have a 7-1 goal differential over their last two games in Philadelphia.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
BLUES Brayden Schenn, who scored the lone Blues goal in Boston on Monday. Schenn played 424 games over six seasons as a Flyer before coming to the Blues in 2017.
FLYERS Carter Hart, who has been one of the NHL's best goaltenders this season. Hart has started in all of Philadelhpia's wins while ranking in the Top 4 in the NHL in both save percentage (.946) and goals-against average (1.97).
BLUE NOTES
In their last five games against the Flyers, the Blues are 12-for-13 on the penalty kill (92.3 percent)... Vladimir Tarasenko is slated to dress in his 617th career game, passing Bob Plager for No. 11 on the all-time franchise list... Robert Bortuzzo is expected to dress in his 500th career game, 387 with the Blues and 113 with the Pittsburgh Penguins... The Blues have given up five first-period goals this season, sharing second fewest in the NHL.
The Flyers' defense came through for a 2-1 road victory over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday with regular Philadelphia defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen scratched from the lineup.
It's uncertain if Ristolainen will be back when the Flyers will host the reeling St. Louis Blues on Tuesday.
Philadelphia coach John Tortorella was asked Monday about his expectations for Ristolainen, who missed the first six games of the season due to an injury.
"He just hasn't met them," Tortorella said. "He needs to play better. I'm not going to go that much deeper into it, but I don't think he's played well enough. He's going to get another crack at it, but in everything about his game, I think he needs to be better."
So does the Philadelphia offense.
The Flyers clearly are not the same offensive team without Sean Couturier, who remains out indefinitely following his second back surgery.
"It's a concern," Tortorella said of the lack of offense. "It's been a concern of the organization here for a little bit and will be."
Flyers goalie Carter Hart is not a concern, though.
The ever-improving 24-year-old is 6-0-2 with a 1.97 goals-against average and a .946 save percentage. After two subpar seasons following two strong campaigns to open his career, Hart looks much more like a standout again.
"I think the goaltender sets the tempo for your team," Tortorella said. "If he looks relaxed, I think it settles the team down, also."
The Flyers blocked 28 shots against the Senators, including five by Travis Sanheim, who played arguably his best all-around game of the season.
"We played a full 60 minutes, and I thought it was our best defensive effort," Philadelphia center Kevin Hayes said.
The Blues need a strong effort to stop their skid. After starting the season with three victories, the Blues have dropped seven in a row in regulation to tie a franchise record.
The latest defeat came Monday, a 3-1 setback on the road against the Boston Bruins. The last St. Louis team to lose seven consecutive games in regulation occurred in 2005-06.
Brandon Saad returned from an upper-body injury, but the Blues still couldn't execute enough to come up with a victory.
Brayden Schenn scored the lone goal for the Blues while goaltender Jordan Binnington made 34 saves.
Once again, it wasn't enough.
"It's all about puck battles and competing," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "We need to do it for 60 minutes."
Berube said that he's not singling out any one player for the slide.
"They've got to want to do it," he said. "That's the bottom line. You've got to want to do it. It's every guy. Every guy's got to dig in. We want to get out of this, we need everybody to dig in and do their job."
Schenn was highly critical of the team's effort, especially in the third period, when Boston scored the game's final two goals.
"We probably sat back too much, just because we were almost a little bit scared to go get it, because we know how valuable these two points are for us right now," Schenn said. "We're going into Philly (on Tuesday). We know it's a tough team."
