Blues have big opportunity Tuesday vs. Sharks

ST. LOUIS - The Blues have an opportunity to regain third place in the Central Division on Tuesday at Scottrade Center when they host the San Jose Sharks at 7 p.m. (FSMW, FSGO, KMOX).
"Every day that we have a game is a big opportunity," Blues forward Kyle Brodziak said. "It seems every day you look, there are teams below you or teams that are close to you that are winning. Every day you have to focus on what you can control and try to take advantage of every situation you can."
The Blues and Stars are currently tied with 72 points each, but Dallas holds the first tiebreaker (fewest games played). With a win Tuesday, the Blues would move two points ahead of the Stars, who are idle until Wednesday.

THE MATCHUP

BLUES Brayden Schenn scored late in the game to cut the Stars' lead to 2-1, but Dallas held on and took a victory over the Blues in an important game Friday at American Airlines Center.
The Blues fell to 0-2-1 in their last three games, but felt they played well in Dallas - just couldn't get enough offensively.
"We came into a tough building, it's a team that's playing well. I thought it was a good, solid game," Blues goalie Jake Allen said. "Obviously besides the score, it was unfortunate. I know a lot of guys are frustrated in here because we played a good hockey game, we just couldn't catch a break."
"Looking at the teams we've played, we've played some good teams," Blues Head Coach Mike Yeo said. "Looking at our game as a whole right now, we're pretty solid. We're a tough team to play against, but bottom line is we're finding ways to lose games as opposed to finding ways to win games. It's a fine line for us because there are a lot of things that are good, and there are a lot of things we can build off of and things we have to make sure we continue to do. But that said, it's not good enough. This is a game about results, and we've got to find ways to win hockey games."

SHARKS San Jose scored four goals on their first five shots on Ben Bishop en route to a 5-2 win against the Dallas Stars on Sunday, which certainly helped the Blues out in the Central Division standings.
Mikkel Boedker scored twice, while Joe Pavelski, Melker Karlsson and Justin Braun also chipped in goals to seal the win for San Jose, who sit in second place in the Pacific Division.
"We looked like we had a couple days' rest. We had great energy to start," Sharks Head Coach Peter DeBoer told NHL.com after the win. "I thought we had good legs, we were executing. I really liked us."
San Jose is currently without forward Tomas Hertl, who has missed two games with an upper-body injury, and Joe Thornton, who was expected to miss several weeks following a knee injury sustained late last month.
HEAD-TO-HEAD San Jose is the only team the Blues have yet to face this season.
Last year, the Blues swept the regular-season series (3-0-0), outscoring the Sharks 11-3 in those games.
Overall, the Blues have won four straight against the Sharks.

HOT VS. SAN JOSE

• Jaden Schwartz has 13 points in his last nine games (four goals, nine assists), including a current three-game point streak (two goals, two assists)
  - Alexander Steen has 10 points in his last eight games (three goals, seven assists)
  - Vladimir Tarasenko has nine points in his last eight games (three goals, six assists)
  - Paul Stastny has seven points in his last eight games (one goal, six assists)
  - Alex Pietrangelo has an assist in three straight games
  - Carter Hutton is 4-0-1 with a 0.98 goals-against average, a .968 save-percentage and two shutouts in five career starts against San Jose

BLUE NOTES

• Scottie Upshall is expected to play in his 200th game as a Blue on Tuesday.
  - The Blues have won four of their last six home games, keeping the opposition to two goals or fewer in all four wins.
  - The Blues held the Dallas Stars to 16 shots in their last game - the lowest number of shots against in a game this season.