Blue Jackets at Blues preview

BLUE JACKETS (5-5-2) at BLUES (7-3-3)
8 p.m. ET; FS-MW, FS-O, NHL.TV

Goalie Jordan Binnington will make his sixth straight start for the Blues, 4-1-0 in their past five games. Binnington has a 2.00 goals-against average and .931 save percentage in those five starts.
Goalie Elvis Merzlikins will make his third NHL start and play his fourth game for the Blue Jackets, who have lost two straight and are 2-2-2 in their past six games. He's 0-1-1 with a 3.86 GAA and .891 save percentage this season; he made 19 saves in relief during a 4-1 loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday.

Players to watch

Blue Jackets center Pierre-Luc Dubois has four points (two goals, two assists) in a four-game point streak.
Blues forward David Perron has five points (one goal, four assists) in his past two games and 38 points (14 goals, 24 assists) in 42 games against Columbus.

They said it

"We just have to simplify and play a straight-ahead hockey game. We have to be a simple team." -- Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella
"I think it's a big game. We talked to the team about that this morning and making sure we're ready. The details of the game are going to be important for me. This is a young, aggressive team that's going to come after us tonight. So we've got to be ready for that. We've got to be on our toes, and we've got to be ready for a hard game." -- Blues coach Craig Berube

Blue Jackets projected lineup

Gustav Nyquist -- Pierre-Luc Dubois -- Cam Atkinson
Nick Foligno -- Boone Jenner -- Josh Anderson
Sonny Milano -- Alex Wennberg -- Oliver Bjorkstrand
Jakob Lilja -- Riley Nash -- Emil Bemstrom
Zach Werenski -- Seth Jones
Scott Harrington -- David Savard
Vladislav Gavrikov -- Dean Kukan
Elvis Merzlikins
Joonas Korpisalo
Scratched: Markus Nutivaara
Injured: Brandon Dubinsky (wrist), Alexandre Texier (knee), Ryan Murray (hand)

Blues projected lineup

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

Status report

Tortorella said line combinations and defensive pairings will be changed but would not disclose them. Based on the morning skate, Nyquist, Foligno and Milano all have been juggled. ... The Blues will dress the same lineup that played in a 2-1 win against the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday.

Stat pack

Atkinson has 16 points (five goals, 11 assists) in 18 games against St. Louis. … Perron needs one assist for 300 in the NHL. ... O'Reilly has five points (two goals, three assists) in his past two games. ... Schenn has five points (four goals, one assist) in his past five games.