TEAM SNAPSHOTS
BLUES Despite the end result on Tuesday night in Seattle, the St. Louis Blues showed resilience in a difficult schedule when they fell 5-2 to the Kraken. They scored two goals in the third period to stay competitive, but a late empty-netter by Seattle effectively sealed the game.
It was their second night of a back-to-back, already seeing one earlier in the season-long road trip concluding in Vegas on Friday. The Blues lead the NHL in back-to-back sets so far, overall a strong 5-3 record in games played without a rest day.
Though they fell to the Kraken, the Blues have been highly successful against Pacific Division opponents this season. The Blues are 9-3-0 against those teams this year, with at least one victory against every team except Los Angeles.
Missing Jordan Kyrou (upper-body injury) on Tuesday, it remains to be seen whether he will play in Friday's road trip finale. If Kyrou is back, he will be looking to extend his road game point streak to 11 games - currently on a 20-point tear in his last ten games in enemy territory.
After the Christmas holiday, the Blues return to Enterprise Center for a three-game homestand against Toronto, Chicago and Minnesota before hitting the road again.
The Blues head to Vegas with a record of 16-16-1, worth 33 points and fifth place in the Central Division.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS The Vegas Golden Knights have been fighting to stay atop the Western Conference since the Blues ended their nine-game win streak last month. Starting the season 13-2-0, the Golden Knights are 10-9-1 since the Nov. 12 matchup.
They have not been at full strength throughout this recent stretch, without star forward Jack Eichel for their last six games. Former Blues captain Alex Pietrangelo also missed nine games due to personal reasons, but has returned to the lineup for their last three - scoring a point in each contest.
The Golden Knights are coming off a win against Arizona, their third game of a four-game homestand concluding with Friday's tilt. Captain Mark Stone's three points led the way, including both a shorthanded and power-play goal in an explosive third period that saw five goals in total Wednesday.
"The energy was up, we were ready to go, and we capitalized on some key chances," said Stone on how the Golden Knights turned a 1-1 tie after two periods into a 5-2 win.
Vegas hosts the Blues with a record of 23-11-1 on the season, worth 47 points and the top spot in the Pacific Division and Western Conference.
HEAD-TO-HEAD The Blues came out on top in Vegas already this year, winning 3-2 as Jordan Binnington made 34 saves to snap Vegas' nine-game win streak. The Blues are 3-1-0 in their last 4 games against Vegas and are 2-1-1 in their last four trips to T-Mobile Arena.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
BLUES Pavel Buchnevich, who became the sixth-fastest Blue to 100 points with the franchise on Tuesday by accomplishing the feat in 97 games. Buchnevich has 41 goals and 59 assists in the Blue Note, and his plus-29 rating is No. 2 on the team since his arrival.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS Chandler Stephenson, who leads the Golden Knights with 24 assists and 32 points this season. Stephenson finished with two points in the win over Arizona, extending his point streak to six games.
BLUE NOTES
Friday's game will be called live by radio broadcaster Chris Kerber at Hotshots in Fenton for the Holiday Blues Bash... The Blues are 10-5-6 (26 points) in 21 games against Vegas since the Golden Knights entered the NHL in the 2017-18 season, which is the second most points of any team in the NHL against Vegas (1. Minnesota, 12-4-3, 27 points)... With a win Friday at Vegas, the Blues would record four or more wins on a road trip of exactly five games for the seventh time in franchise history. The last time they won at least four out of a five-game trip was from Jan. 21 - Feb. 7, 2019.
After earning their first regulation home win in almost a month Wednesday, the Vegas Golden Knights will try to make it two in a row on Friday night against the St. Louis Blues in Las Vegas.
The 5-2 victory over the Arizona Coyotes was only the second in eight home games for the Western Conference-leading Golden Knights, who improved to just 9-9-0 at T-Mobile Arena this season. Mark Stone led the way with both a power-play goal and a short-handed goal during a four-goal third period.
It marked the first time in Vegas history that a player scored both a power-play and a short-handed goal in the same game. It also marked the first time since their last regulation home victory, 4-1 over Ottawa on Nov. 23, that the Golden Knights scored more than two goals in a home game.
"Glad to get two points," Stone said. "Obviously sitting in here 1-1 after the second (period), we felt like we controlled most of the play, and you can kind of doubt yourself. The energy was up, we were ready to go, and we capitalized on some key chances."
Stone's power-play goal at 8:56 of the third period broke a 1-1 tie. His short-handed goal, his 14th tally of the season, made it 4-2 with 7:26 remaining. Michael Amadio sealed the win with his first goal in 17 games with 2:41 to go.
"We were feeling it," said center Chandler Stephenson, who had two assists. "We kept pushing, kept pushing. Then one goes in, then two, three. We were just feeling good after the second and the third one."
The Golden Knights will try to carry that momentum into their final game before the Christmas break against a St. Louis team playing its fifth game in nine days on the road.
The Blues started the trip by sweeping a back-to-back against Edmonton (4-3 in a shootout) and Calgary (5-2), and followed that up with a 5-1 victory at Vancouver on Monday. They then had a four-game win streak snapped with a 5-2 loss at Seattle on Tuesday.
"We didn't manage the puck very well," St. Louis coach Craig Berube said. "They checked well, we didn't have time or space and we didn't do the right things with the puck. That's probably what the bottom line was."
A win over the Golden Knights would give the Blues a 4-1-0 road trip.
"We've got to regroup, get prepared for Vegas," Berube said. "And we need the points more than them."
St. Louis entered Thursday's action five points behind Edmonton for the final wild-card spot in the West.
"We've had a pretty tough road schedule here, but that's obviously no excuse," defenseman Colton Parayko, who scored his second goal of the season in the Seattle loss, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "We want to make sure that we just drop all the negatives, take the positives. We need points. We know where we are in the standings. I think that's gonna fuel us a little bit. Why not finish up the road trip with a win and go on to Christmas with a win?"
