Preview: Blues at Avalanche

BLUES AT AVALANCHE
When: Saturday, Jan. 18 at 2 p.m. CT
Watch: FOX Sports Midwest, FOX Sports App
Listen:101 ESPN, NHL App
St. Louis suffered a tough loss in their last trip to Colorado, falling 7-3 to the Avalanche. But the Blues have been on a tear since, putting together a six-game point streak (4-0-2). They'll look to avenge that early-January loss in this Saturday afternoon matchup at Pepsi Center.

THE MATCHUP

BLUES The St. Louis Blues saw their four-game winning streak (and 9-game home winning streak) come to an end on Wednesday in a 4-3 overtime loss to Philadelphia. Justin Faulk, Ryan O'Reilly and Alexander Steen scored for the Blues, while goaltender Jordan Binnington registered 21 saves on 25 shots.
Despite overcoming a two-goal deficit in the third period to send the game to OT and earn a point, the Blues were far from satisfied with their play.
"We were disappointed in that situation down 3-1," O'Reilly said after the game. "We were confident we were going to make that push and come back... We need a response in the next game 'cause tonight wasn't good enough."
While carrying an overall point streak into Saturday's game, the Blues are looking to break out of a road slump. The team is 0-2-1 in their last three games away from Enterprise Center.
AVALANCHE The Colorado Avalanche snapped a four-game losing streak (0-2-2) with a shutout win over San Jose on Thursday night. The Avs received strong goaltending from Philip Grubauer, who stopped 27 shots for his first shoutout of the year. Colorado's goals came from Valeri Nichushkin, Cale Makar, Ryan Graves and Matt Calvert.
"As a team, everybody did the right stuff," Grubauer told ColoradoAvalanche.com. "We got to build on that. We built on that since the Pittsburgh game. First period was unbelievable, last game was really good and this game was the most complete I have seen so we got to make sure we get consistency in that and move on."
This will be the fourth game in a season-long, five-game homestand for the Avs, who have gone 1-0-2 so far.

HEAD-TO-HEAD

This is the fourth of five meetings between the Blues and Avalanche; the two teams will not see each other again until an April 4 matchup at Pepsi Center. St. Louis is 2-1-0 against Colorado this season and, prior to the loss on Jan. 2, had won their previous six games against this Central Division rival. The Blues are 15-3-3 in their last 21 matchups with the Avs and are 9-3-3 in their last 15 games in Colorado.

HOT VS. COLORADO

• Jaden Schwartz has a seven-game point streak (three goals, five assists)
  - David Perron has five points in his last four games (four goals, one assist)
  - Ryan O'Reilly has 12 points in his last nine games (two goals, 10 assists)
  - Alex Pietrangelo has three points in his last two games (one goal, two assists)

BLUE NOTES

Alexander Steen recorded two points (one goal, one assist) on Wednesday vs. Philadelphia, giving the forward 493 points as a Blue and moving him into a tie with Pavol Demitra for fifth on the Blues' all-time franchise list...After their game on Saturday, the Blues will enter their bye week ahead of All-Star Weekend on Jan. 24-26 in St. Louis...With a win on Saturday, the Blues would reach 70 points before the All-Star or Olympic break for just the fifth time in franchise history (1980-81, 1999-2000, 2000-01, 2013-14).