TEAM SNAPSHOTS
BLUES The St. Louis Blues won't roll over easily. After taking a 7-1 loss in Calgary on Monday, their widest margin of defeat this season, the Blues fought back and downed the Flames 5-1 in Thursday's home ice rematch. The Blues have not taken regulation losses in consecutive games since Nov. 16.
Brandon Saad struck first in the tilt, scoring his first of two goals in the win off a pass from Brayden Schenn in the first period. Saad finished with an assist to mark his 10th career three-point game, and Schenn followed up with a goal of his own later in the period.
Schenn's go-ahead goal proved to be enough to hold the lead the rest of the game. Ryan O'Reilly and Jordan Kyrou added goals to build the lead and seal the win.
"It's tough when we were in their building, it's a back-to-back and I think we just were careless with the puck," Saad said. "I think (tonight) we did a good job of keeping it simple and playing heavy in their end. We had a lot of cycle shifts where we were using the back of the net, changing sides, and I think that leads to success."
Goaltender Ville Husso had another tremendous start between the pipes, building on his breakout season. In the month of January, the 26-year-old Husso has a record of 6-0-0, stopping 195 out of 207 total shots faced.
Saturday's afternoon matchup with Winnipeg will mark the final game before the Blues have some time off for the All-Star break. The Blues are currently third in the Central Division with 57 points and a record of 26-12-5. A win on Saturday would match their win total from the entire 56-game 2020-21 season.
Per NHL schedule changes announced last week, the Blues will resume their season on Feb. 10 with a game against New Jersey - originally scheduled for Dec. 27.
JETS The Winnipeg Jets will be looking to turn things around at Enterprise Center on Saturday after losing their sixth straight contest on Thursday in a difficult stretch on the schedule. Their road trip following the Dec. 19 matchup with the Blues included stops in Vegas, Colorado, Washington, Nashville, Boston and Pittsburgh.
On Thursday night in Winnipeg, the Jets fell to Vancouver 5-1, driven by a hat trick from Canucks forward J.T. Miller. Andrew Copp scored the lone Jets goal, his 12th of the season.
"We need to be a little bit better everywhere right now," said Jets Captain Blake Wheeler. "Those little things are adding up right now, we're a little bit late to everything right now, and it's hurting us."
Between the pipes, Connor Hellebuyck has continued to be one of the busiest and most productive goalies in hockey. Hellebuyck, the 2019-20 Vezina Trophy winner as the League's top goaltender, is currently third in the League in games played this season (34) and second in shots faced (1,082). Playing in Thursday night's game, it remains to be seen if he starts in goal again for the afternoon bout in St. Louis.
Saturday's matchup in St. Louis is the first of a two-game road trip prior to the All-Star break, concluding on Tuesday in Philadelphia. They'll resume for the second half of the season on Feb. 8 with a game against Minnesota.
The Jets are currently in sixth place in the Central Division, carrying a total record of 17-16-7 for 41 points.
HEAD-TO-HEAD The Blues are 1-1-0 against the Jets this season, with a shootout win on Nov. 9 and a 4-2 loss on Dec. 19. Pavel Buchnevich has four points across the two games, and Jordan Binnington gave one of the best goaltending performances of the season in the shootout win, stopping 39 shots with highlight save after highlight save.
The season series will conclude with another matchup in St. Louis on March 13.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
BLUES Ryan O'Reilly, who is set to play in his 900th career game on Saturday. The Blues' captain has 19 career points in 31 games against the Jets - as well as the shootout winner earlier this season.
JETS Kyle Connor, who will join Kyrou at the 2022 NHL All-Star Game as the Jets' representative in Las Vegas. The 25-year-old forward has 23 goals and 19 assists for 42 total points this season, leading the team in all three categories.
The St. Louis Blues will try to maintain their home-ice dominance when they host the slumping Winnipeg Jets on Saturday.
The Blues handled the Calgary Flames 5-1 Thursday to run their record at Enterprise Center to 14-1-1 since Nov. 18. That victory was a huge rebound from St. Louis' 7-1 loss at Calgary on Monday night.
"You don't like losing like that and you always kind of put those losses in the back of your mind against the teams that beat you that bad," Blues forward Brayden Schenn said. "Just happened to be three days later that we get another chance at it, so you don't take those losses lightly. They're gonna happen over an 82-game season and it's just more of a more of a wake-up call that you got to be ready to play games, which we weren't in Calgary."
Meanwhile the Jets are winless (0-4-2) in their last six games. They were outscored 10-4 in losses to Florida and Vancouver at home in their last two games.
"We're going to have to continue to work," interim Jets coach Dave Lowry said. "We've got a group here where we know how to win. We're not the first team that has faced this kind of situation. We just will continue to work, we'll work for our bounces, we'll work for our breaks, and win a hockey game."
The Blues have been riding the hot goaltending of Ville Husso, who supplanted starter Jordan Binnington and went 6-0-0 with a 1.11 goals-against average and .965 save percentage in his last seven games (six starts).
"He's been huge for us, especially as of late," Blues forward Brandon Saad said. "I haven't seen a better goalie in the League lately. He's been great back there. I think when you have that, you're going to have confidence. Obviously, we don't want to give up too many chances, but when he can do that for us, it helps us transition."
After the loss at Calgary, Blues coach Craig Berube shuffled his forward lines again and flanked Schenn with wingers Saad and David Perron. Saad scored twice and Schenn had a goal and an assist, giving him eight points in five games since emerging from COVID-19 protocols.
"Obviously it's been a little frustrating first half at times, but I hope it's all away now and I can just be a piece of this team," Schenn said. "We're so deep up front, we're so deep as a team and we feel like anyone can play with anyone in here. Everyone's got to take a little bit less and buy into the team in order for everyone to have success."
The Jets' struggles have been compounded by the loss of key winger Nikolaj Ehlers to a knee injury and the absence of defenseman Josh Morrissey due to COVID-19 protocols.
"I don't think it's frustration. I think it's disappointment," Lowry said. "These guys are great pros, they take a lot of pride in their game. Obviously as a group we're disappointed in the results right now."
