TEAM SNAPSHOTS
BLUES With the calendar turning over to 2023, the St. Louis Blues will look to establish new momentum when they kick off a four-game road trip this week in Toronto.
Starting on Tuesday, the Blues will face the Maple Leafs, Devils, Canadiens and Wild on the trip. When the Blues leave Minnesota on Jan. 8, they'll be at the exact halfway point of the 2022-23 season.
The Blues are starting the new year with some adversity, seeing Ryan O'Reilly and Vladimir Tarasenko placed on injured reserve Monday morning. With Jake Neighbours called up from Springfield, the Blues will need all hands on deck to endure the veterans' - including Torey Krug - absences.
Tuesday's game is a chance for quick revenge against the Maple Leafs, who beat the Blues in overtime at Enterprise Center last week. Eleven different Blues recorded a point in the Dec. 27 battle, showing that there can be scoring ability up and down the lineup if faced with injuries and other challenges.
The Blues head to Scotiabank Arena with a record of 17-17-3, worth 37 points and fifth place in the Central Division.
MAPLE LEAFS The Toronto Maple Leafs have been up and down in their two games since leaving St. Louis last week, falling 6-3 to the Arizona Coyotes and then winning convincingly over the defending champion Colorado Avalanche.
Toronto has now lost four straight games to the Coyotes, last winning on Feb. 11, 2020. In the time since then, the Maple Leafs have been the No. 4 team in the NHL by points percentage - the Coyotes, No. 31.
Quickly resetting, however, the Maple Leafs beat the Avalanche 6-2 in Colorado driven by two goals from Michael Bunting and multi-point efforts from Auston Matthews, William Nylander and John Tavares.
"I thought we did what we needed to do - scored a big power-play goal and were clean in the penalty kill," said Head Coach Sheldon Keefe. "(We did) a lot of good things here to help win a road game and close out a trip."
The Maple Leafs begin a three-game homestand on Tuesday against the Blues, continuing against Seattle and Detroit throughout the week. They host St. Louis with a record of 23-8-6, worth 52 points and second place in the Atlantic Division.
HEAD-TO-HEAD William Nylander scored the game winner for the Maple Leafs at Enterprise Center last week, giving the Blues a quick rematch opportunity to end the season series with a win on Tuesday. In their last 10 matchups with Toronto, the Blues are 7-2-1 with a 37-30 goal differential.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
BLUES Robert Thomas, who leads the Blues with five points vs. Toronto over the last two years. Thomas had one assist in the Dec. 27 overtime loss, currently at a team-high 25 on the season.
MAPLE LEAFS Auston Matthews, reigning Hart Trophy MVP winner and one of three players leading the Maple Leafs with 42 points this season (along with William Nylander and Mitch Marner). Matthews has five points in his last five games, including one in their last bout with the Blues.
BLUE NOTES
The Blues are 13-1-1 in their last 15 trips to Toronto, with their only regulation loss since Feb. 4, 1998 coming on Jan. 2, 2016... Six of the Blues' first seven games in 2023 will come against teams who currently hold a playoff spot... Blues defensemen have combined for 19 goals this season, which shares No. 6 in the NHL. They have also contributed six game-winning goals, which shares No. 1 in the League... Justin Faulk's six goals share No. 13 among all NHL defensemen... The Blues are currently five wins away from 2000 in franchise history; they are set to become the eighth NHL franchise to reach the milestone and second non-Original Six club.
The St. Louis Blues will be without some key players when they open a four-game road trip Tuesday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Blues placed forwards Ryan O'Reilly (broken foot) and Vladimir Tarasenko (hand) on injured reserve Monday after ending 2022 with a 5-2 home loss to the Minnesota Wild on Saturday.
O'Reilly will be re-evaluated in six weeks, while Tarasenko will be re-evaluated in four weeks. The Blues recalled forward Jake Neighbours from AHL affiliate Springfield.
"Injuries are part of the profession, part of the game," Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said during a conference call. "Winning people and winning organizations don't dwell on what they don't have -- they look forward to working with the things they do have. Guys who have been (wanting) more ice time are going to get it."
Defenseman Torey Krug (lower-body injury) was already on injured reserve and will be re-evaluated in five weeks.
Toronto defeated the Colorado Avalanche 6-2 on Saturday at Denver to complete a 2-1 road trip that started Dec. 27 with a 5-4 victory at St. Louis on Willam Nylander's overtime goal.
Toronto allowed only seven shots on goal in the third period against Colorado.
"I thought it was a cleaner game," Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. "We got contributions from all four lines, all six defensemen, got saves from (Matt Murray) when we needed them.
"It's a good way to close out what feels like a long road trip, with the distance we travelled and three late flights to get into each city. It has been a challenge that way, and I like the way the guys got it done."
Auston Matthews had a goal and assist Saturday to give him 499 career points in 444 NHL games.
"I've been fortunate to play on really good teams year after year and competitive teams," Matthews said about approaching 500 points. "It's not as much of an individual accomplishment as it is a team accomplishment."
Calle Rosen and Robert Bortuzzo scored Saturday and Jordan Kyrou had two assists for the Blues as they completed a 1-1-1 homestand.
"Listen, we made too many mistakes (Saturday) to win the hockey game -- end of story," St. Louis coach Craig Berube said. "I thought we had a good first period, a lot of urgency. I thought we were skating. Then the second period, to me, we didn't skate. We didn't move the puck very well, we didn't skate."
Tarasenko was injured in the first period Saturday. He has played 34 games and is third on the Blues with 29 points (10 goals, 19 assists).
O'Reilly has played in all 37 games this season and has 10 goals and six assists.
Neighbours has one goal in 13 games with the Blues this season. He has seven goals and seven assists with Springfield.
Berube feels the Blues must improve offensively.
"Too many missed shots again, not driving the net hard enough offensively," Berube said. "We had a lot of attempts. There's a lot of times on our rush attack -- we're a good rush team -- where we've got good numbers, but we need to penetrate the middle of the ice better. And we need to be putting pucks to the net more."
Toronto defenseman Rasmus Sandin (neck) is expected to return Tuesday. The team loaned forward Joey Anderson to the Toronto Marlies of the AHL.
