Stars at Blues preview

STARS (37-21-6) at BLUES (38-17-10)
8 p.m. ET; FS-MW, FS-SW, NHL.TV

The Blues, who have outscored their opponents 22-9 while winning six in a row, are first in the Central Division. They lead the Colorado Avalanche by three points.
The Stars, who had their road point streak end at eight (6-0-2) with a 4-3 loss at the Boston Bruins on Thursday, are third in the Central, three points behind the Avalanche and six behind the Blues.
Dallas is 7-2-1 in the past 10 games after going 3-4-1 in its previous eight.
Goalie Anton Khudobin will start for the Stars, and Jake Allen starts for the Blues.

Players to watch

Stars forward Jamie Benn has five points (one goal, four assists) in a four-game point streak and 41 points (20 goals, 21 assists) in 43 games against St. Louis.
Blues forward Jaden Schwartz has six points (one goal, five assists) in a four-game point streak and 20 points (nine goals, 11 assists) in 31 games against Dallas.

They said it

"You look at the standings, everyone's looking at the standings this time of year. They're a couple points up on us. We've got a game in hand. They've been playing good against us this year. A big game for our group here tonight." -- Stars captain Jamie Benn
"It's a big game for both teams. It really is. We can get some more separation from them. Obviously, they're trying to gain on us. It's one of those games that everybody looks forward to." -- Blues coach Craig Berube

Stars projected lineup

Jamie Benn -- Tyler Seguin -- Corey Perry
Roope Hintz -- Jason Dickinson -- Denis Gurianov
Andrew Cogliano -- Radek Faksa -- Blake Comeau
Mattias Janmark -- Joe Pavelski -- Alexander Radulov
Esa Lindell -- John Klingberg
Jamie Oleksiak -- Miro Heiskanen
Andrej Sekera -- Roman Polak
Anton Khudobin
Ben Bishop
Scratched: Taylor Fedun
Injured: Stephen Johns (upper body), Justin Dowling (lower body)

Blues projected lineup

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

Status report

Johns is day-to-day but Stars coach Rick Bowness said he's hopeful the defenseman can play Tuesday against the Edmonton Oilers. ... De la Rose will play for the second time in 14 games; he's been a healthy scratch the past nine games and will replace Kyrou, a forward.

Stat pack

Seguin has three points (two goals, one assist) in a three-game point streak. ... The Blues are 3-0-1 against the Stars this season; this will be the final game in the season series.