At the Rink: Jets at Blues

ST. LOUIS -- The implications are slightly different, but the common denominator for both the Winnipeg Jets and St. Louis Blues is two points.

The two Central Division rivals will square off against one another Tuesday, and for the Blues (41-19-5), it's another chance to chase down the division-leading Nashville Predators, who lead St. Louis by four points (91-87). However, the Blues have three games in hand.

"I don't spend too much time looking at it, but we can't control what happens to them," Blues captain David Backes said of the Predators. "We've played our games against them and we can control what we do and that's two points on the line when we're playing our games and we move forward to the next two. If we take care of our business, play our brand of hockey, things will just work themselves out. Regardless of playing in the playoffs, if you want to reach the goal that we have in mind, you're going to have to play each team or the best of the best and find a way to win. We're going to take that mentality moving forward."

The Blues have had success against the Jets (33-21-12, 78 points), who are three points clear of the Los Angeles Kings for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference. The Blues are 6-0-1 against the Jets since Winnipeg's move to the Western Conference last season, but five of those seven games have been one-goal games, and the other two were two-goal games.

"I like these games," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. "They're real barometers of your team. They're fun to coach in. I think the players enjoy playing these games. Really for two years now, every game's been really close. There's not much difference between the two teams. I like them. I think they give you great evaluation postgame of what you like, what needs to get worked on. We looked at the game in Winnipeg. They were better than us in the first half and we were probably better than them in the second half; it was that even of a game. Their games with us are great barometers of what your team is play, your strengths and weaknesses are."

The Jets are doing all they can to stay ahead of the pack of teams trying to chase them down, and starting the four-game road trip against Nashville with a 3-1 victory was a good start for them.

"The effort was as good as I've seen in an awful long time," Jets coach Paul Maurice said. "They played hard, too. We're going to expect that kind of game tonight. We expect that from ourselves. It's not always an easy level to get to. That's our challenge."

The Jets said they feel a win against the Blues could go a long way. They've been on the wrong side of the final result the past two seasons, but said they don't feel like they're far off.

"For an awfully long time, they've been really, really tight games," Maurice said. "I don't think we've walked away from too many games against St. Louis and felt that we didn't play well, play hard. They have to. They bring that out in your game. Just one more of everything, and it's the extra shot on goal, the extra blocked shot. There's not going to be any major system changes or line changes that shake anything loose. It's a battle for every inch on the ice and you've just got to win one more of everything."

Here are the projected lineups:

JETS

Andrew Ladd - Adam Lowry - Michael Frolik

Drew Stafford - Mark Scheifele - Blake Wheeler

Jiri Tlusty - Jim Slater - Lee Stempniak

Chris Thorburn - Eric O'Dell - Anthony Peluso

Toby Enstrom - Tyler Myers

Mark Stuart - Jacob Trouba

Jay Harrison - Adam Pardy

Michael Hutchinson

Ondrej Pavelec

Scratched: Paul Postma

Injured: Dustin Byfuglien (upper body), Bryan Little (upper body), Mathieu Perreault (lower body), Ben Chariot (undisclosed), Grant Clitsome (back) and Matt Halischuk (lower body)

BLUES

Alexander Steen - David Backes - T.J. Oshie

Jaden Schwartz - Jori Lehtera - Vladimir Tarasenko

Dmitrij Jaskin - Paul Stastny - Patrik Berglund

Steve Ott - Marcel Goc - Ryan Reaves

Carl Gunnarsson - Alex Pietrangelo

Petteri Lindbohm - Jay Bouwmeester

Barret Jackman - Robert Bortuzzo

Brian Elliott

Jake Allen

Scratched: Chris Butler, Chris Porter

Injured: Olli Jokinen (upper body), Kevin Shattenkirk (abdomen), Zbynek Michalek (concussion)

Status report: Shattenkirk and Michalek skated with teammates, who held an optional skate on Tuesday. Hitchcock said Bouwmeester is available for selection. The defenseman missed the game Saturday because of illness. If he plays, Butler will be the healthy scratch. … Jokinen was injured in the third period Saturday against the Toronto Maple Leafs and could play tonight, but Hitchcock said he wants to get him into one more practice. Goc, who was a healthy scratch Saturday, will replace Jokinen. ... Little skated after the Jets had their morning skate. "He's where I guess we thought he would be," Maurice said. "He's not ahead of it at all. His legs are good; it's an upper-body [injury], so he can get out there and get a little skate."

Who's hot: The Blues' "STL Line" of Lehtera, Tarasenko and Schwartz have combined for 11 points the past three games. Stastny has two goals and three assists the past five games. Oshie has five points the past three games. ... Frolik has a six-game point streak (four goals, two assists). Ladd has eight points in his past nine games. Wheeler has two goals and two assists his past three games. Scheifele has six points in his six games.