Preview: Blues vs. Golden Knights

BLUES VS. GOLDEN KNIGHTS - 7 PM

THE MATCHUP

BLUES In desperate need of a win, the Blues made a big statement on Saturday, beating the Blackhawks 7-3 at Enterprise Center. Ryan O'Reilly, Zach Sanford and Alex Pietrangelo each had three points in the win, while Vladimir Tarasenko pitched in two goals and Brayden Schenn had two assists.
Jake Allen left the game late in the second period with an injury, but he won't miss any time. He returned to practice Wednesday and will start Thursday.
The Blues will get Robby Fabbri and Carl Gunnarsson back in the lineup. Both players, along with Nikita Soshnikov, were activated from injured reserve on Wednesday. The only remaining injured Blue is defenseman Robert Bortuzzo.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS Vegas fell 4-1 to the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena in their last game on Tuesday night.
The loss dropped Vegas to 5-6-1 in the regular season.
"We made some bad choices on pinches that cost us a couple goals tonight and gave them a lot of odd-man rushes," Vegas Head Coach Gerard Gallant told NHL.com after the game. "That's not what we usually do, and it cost us tonight."
Jonathan Marchessault leads the Golden Knights with 12 points this season and has six points (four goals, two assists) in his past six games. Former Blue Ryan Reaves has three goals this season.
HEAD-TO-HEAD The Blues beat the Golden Knights in their only meeting at Enterprise Center last season, but St. Louis dropped both games against the Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena. The Blues did, however, collect points in all three games against Vegas last season.

THEY SAID IT

David Perron
On bond he has with Golden Knights following their impressive run last season
"We're going to dinner, a bunch of us together (on Wednesday night), 15 or 16 guys. I miss them a lot. When you go through everything we went through last year, basically a group of guys you can always look back and remember that year, it was an extremely special one. It's going to be good to see them."
Mike Yeo
On keys to beating Vegas
"I think we've been building and there's been ups, there's been downs. But we're at a point where we know our game looks like and we're confident in that game. The key to victory is going to be very similar to our last one. Let's not get caught up in the result. Let's make sure we're focused on playing that game, playing it as well as we can for as much of that 60 minutes as we can. It's never perfect, there are going to be times when the other team has a push, obviously it's a good team we're playing against."
Vince Dunn
On preparing for Vegas' quick team
"It's different, the way they play. That team wants to play really fast like Toronto and Chicago. They want to play up and down. We have to make sure we don't fall into that style of game. Just make sure we stick to our structure and stick to our details throughout the whole game."

BLUE NOTES

The Blues have 13 power play goals this season, which is tied with Washington for the most in the League (as of Thursday afternoon)… Ryan O'Reilly has points in five straight games (three goals, seven assists)… Brayden Schenn collected points in every Blues / Golden Knights matchup last season.