Game Notes: Feb. 26 at Chicago

The Blues are coming off their bye week and will face the Blackhawks for the first time since beating them 4-1 in the 2017 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic on Jan. 2. St. Louis is 2-1-1 overall against Chicago this season. At United Center, the Blues have won four of their last five regular season trips after losing 11 of their previous 13. The penalty kill has been essential to the Blues' success in this season's series as they've dispatch 14 of the Hawks' 15 attempts. That importance of that trend is further magnified if you consider that the Hawks are 18-3-2 when converting at least once on the power play this season.

What to Watch

How do the Blues respond after the bye week? They have experienced at least three days off between games on four previous occasions this season and have gone 3-1-0 in those games. Recently re-signed Patrik Berglund has been hot against the Hawks, scoring three times over his last two games. Berglund will also appear in his 616th game as a Blue tonight, passing Bob Plager for seventh on the all-time franchise list.

Milestones

David Perron - 4 shy of 100 goals as a Blue
Paul Stastny - 7 shy of 200 games as a Blue
Kyle Brodziak - 4 shy of 400 career PIM
Carl Gunnarsson - 9 shy of 100 career assists
Kevin Shattenkirk - 6 shy of 300 career PIM / 1 shy of 200 assists as a Blue
Jori Lehtera - 3 shy of 100 career points
Alexander Steen - 6 shy of 300 points as a Blue / 6 shy of 400 career PIM
Jay Bouwmeester - 1 shy of 300 games as a Blue
Ryan Reaves - 3 shy of 400 games as a Blue
Jaden Schwartz - 6 shy of 200 career points / 4 shy of 300 career games

Quick Hits

• Vladimir Tarasenko has four goals over his last four games against the Hawks, including two in the Winter Classic
• Jay Bouwmeester will dress in his 300th game as a Blue on Sunday
• Kevin Shattenkirk will dress in his 425th game as a Blue, passing Roman Polak for 10th among defensemen in Blues history
• St. Louis has won eight of their last 11 road games, allowing just 17 goals in the process
• Among goalies with at least five starts, Jake Allen ranks fourth in GAA (1.88) and sixth in SV% (.935) this month

50th Anniversary Throwback Note

On this day in 1987, the Blues' Doug Gilmour scored his 100th career NHL goal when St. Louis lost 4-3 at Buffalo.