Coyotes at Blues preview

COYOTES (30-25-8) at BLUES (33-17-10)
8 p.m. ET; FS-MW, FS-A, FS-A PLUS, NHL.TV

The defenseman was acquired by the Blues from the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday for a second-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft and a conditional fourth-round pick in 2021.
Scandella, who has 12 points (four goals, eight assists) in 51 games with the Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres this season, will be paired with Colton Parayko.
St. Louis, which ended a five-game winless streak (0-3-2) with a 3-0 win against the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday, is tied with the Dallas Stars for first in the Central Division.
The Coyotes, who lost 3-2 to the Stars on Wednesday, are tied with the Calgary Flames for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference and trail the Edmonton Oilers by three points for first in the Pacific Division.
Goalie Antti Raanta is expected to start for Arizona, which is 4-7-3 in its past 14 games.

Players to watch

Coyotes forward Christian Dvorak has three points (one goal, two assists) in a three-game point streak and has a point in 12 of his past 16 games (seven goals, five assists).
Blues forward Alexander Steen has 30 points (eight goals, 22 assists) in 33 games against the Coyotes.

They said it

"That's the great thing about hockey. Flush this one down. We've got a game in less than 24 hours, right back at it, those are another two points. We need all the points." -- Coyotes forward Christian Fischer following the loss Wednesday
"Super-excited. I got a good practice today, so I'm ready to go. It's going to be great to play with [Parayko]. I've played against him for many years, big guy that can skate, move the puck. We're going to build that chemistry and it's going to be a lot of fun." -- Blues defenseman Marco Scandella

Coyotes projected lineup

Clayton Keller -- Nick Schmaltz -- Phil Kessel
Carl Soderberg -- Brad Richardson --
Christian Fischer
Jakob Chychrun -- Alex Goligoski
Oliver Ekman-Larsson -- Niklas Hjalmarsson
Jordan Oesterle -- Ilya Lyubushkin
Antti Raanta
Adin Hill
Scratched: Michael Grabner, Barrett Hayton, Aaron Ness
Injured: Darcy Kuemper (lower body), Jason Demers (lower body)

Blues projected lineup

Jaden Schwartz -- Ryan O'Reilly -- Brayden Schenn
Zach Sanford -- Robert Thomas -- David Perron
Alexander Steen -- Tyler Bozak -- Jordan Kyrou
Sammy Blais -- Oskar Sundqvist -- Ivan Barbashev
Carl Gunnarsson -- Alex Pietrangelo
Marco Scandella -- Colton Parayko
Vince Dunn -- Justin Faulk
Jordan Binnington
Jake Allen
Scratched: Robert Bortuzzo, Jacob de la Rose, Mackenzie MacEachern
Injured: Vladimir Tarasenko (shoulder), Jay Bouwmeester (cardiac episode)

Status report

Ekman-Larsson was injured on a hit by Stars forward Jamie Benn on Wednesday but returned for the third period. ... Sundqvist took the morning skate off because of maintenance but will play. ... Scandella will replace Bortuzzo, a defenseman, who played the past four games.

Stat pack

Arizona has won six of the past seven against St. Louis and outscored the Blues 26-11 in that span. ... The Blues have three wins in their past 13 games (3-7-3).