Blues ready for old school home-and-home with Jets

ST. LOUIS - The Blues meet the Winnipeg Jets tonight at 6 p.m. in the first game of a back-to-back, home-and-home set between division rivals.
It's old school hockey - and that's just how we like it.

"It almost gives you a little bit of a playoff feel here in December," Blues Head Coach Mike Yeo said. "I don't know if we like it playing against Winnipeg, but it makes for fun hockey, emotional hockey and I think the crowd gets into it. It's always fun."
A limited number of tickets are still available at the Scottrade Center Box Office and
online at ticketmaster.com
.
After tonight's game, the Blues will embark on a four-game Canadian road trip.
BLUES The Blues are coming off back-to-back losses for the first time since Dec. 1-2. Patrik Berglund scored the lone goal in Thursday's 3-1 loss to the Anaheim Ducks, which saw Jake Allen make 15 saves.
"We can play more desperate to get more bodies in front of the net," Berglund said after the game. "It looked like we got a lot of shots blocked today, too. We've got to be more desperate, especially at home. We've just got bear down and play better hockey."
"I think we've been doing a lot of good things the last couple games, but we sit here with two losses," Yeo said before Saturday's game. "What I would say is, (we're not doing) enough good things… It's easy to point at the lack of goal scoring, but goals come from a series of doing a bunch of little things really well. For me, that's got to be the focus coming in."
The Blues are now tied with Nashville for the top spot in the Western Conference (44 points).
Carter Hutton will start in goal tonight, making his first start since Dec. 1. Kyle Brodziak is "dinged up" and won't play - Oskar Sundqvist will take his spot on the fourth line.

JETS Nikolaj Ehlers scored Winnipeg's only goal Thursday in a 5-1 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks at home.
It was Winnipeg's first regulation loss at Bell MTS Place in 11 games.
The Jets are 1-3-1 in their past five games but are just three points back of the Blues in the race for first in the Central Division.
"I don't think we need to look anywhere, to be honest," Ehlers told NHL.com after the loss to Chicago. "We just need to play the game. We've got 50 games left, so there's still a lot of work to do. Looking at the standings right now, we're in good shape but we need to keep working on our game. We need to get better. We can't start games the way we did today, and I'm positive the guys are pretty set on getting that changed quickly."
THE MATCHUP The Blues went 0-4-1 against the Jets last season, making Winnipeg one of only two Western Conference teams the Blues did not beat last season.
"These guys ate us up last year. Five games we played against them, they won all five, and they weren't by fluke," Yeo said. "They're going to give us their best game tonight, so we have to be ready for that."
Prior to that, the Blues had an 11-1-3 record against the Jets. In the last 11 matchups with Winnipeg at Scottrade Center, the Blues are 6-3-2.

HOT VS. WINNIPEG

• Alexander Steen has seven points in his last eight games against the Jets (three goals, four assists).
  - Vladimir Tarasenko has 12 points in his last 11 games vs. Winnipeg (six goals, six assists).
  - Paul Stastny has three points in his last three games against the Jets (one goal, two assists).
  - Brayden Schenn has five points in his last five meetings with Winnipeg (two goals, three assists).

BLUE NOTES

• The Blues held the Ducks to only 18 shots on Thursday - their lowest shots against total of the season.
  - Alexander Steen dressed in his 596th game as a Blue on Thursday, passing Jamal Mayers for eighth among Blues forwards in games played.
  - Doors to Scottrade Center open today at 4 p.m., with live music and $5 beers during a pregame happy hour from 4-5 p.m. outside Sections 120-126.