Blues at Coyotes preview

BLUES (43-28-6) at COYOTES (27-40-11)
9 p.m. ET; FS-A PLUS, FS-MW, NHL.TV

The Blues and Colorado Avalanche each have 92 points, but St. Louis holds the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the conference because it has played one fewer game. The Blues trail the Anaheim Ducks by one point for the first wild card with a game in hand, and they are four points behind the Minnesota Wild for third place in the Central Division.
St. Louis is 6-0-1 in its past seven games and 9-2-2 in its past 13 after a seven-game losing streak (0-6-1). The Blues have allowed two goals or fewer in four of their past five games and seven of their past 11.
The Coyotes, 9-6-1 in their past 16 games, have been eliminated from playoff contention.

Players to watch

Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo has 13 points (four goals, nine assists) in his past 10 games.
Coyotes goaltender Antti Raanta is 7-1-0 with a 1.51 goals-against-average and .950 save percentage in his past eight starts.

They said it

"It's going to be a tough back-to-back now. We're going to have to really respond to this challenge." -- Blues coach Mike Yeo after a 4-3 overtime loss at the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday
"These are the teams, when they get hot before the playoffs, if they get in, they're the most dangerous." -- Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet on the Blues

Blues projected lineup

Jaden Schwartz -- Brayden Schenn -- Vladimir Tarasenko
Patrik Berglund -- Kyle Brodziak -- Alexander Steen
Dmitrij Jaskin -- Vladimir Sobotka -- Ivan Barbashev
Tage Thompson -- Oskar Sundqvist -- Chris Thorburn
Joel Edmundson -- Alex Pietrangelo
Vince Dunn -- Colton Parayko
Robert Bortuzzo --
Mitch Reinke
Carter Hutton
Jake Allen
Scratched: Nolan Stevens, Scottie Upshall, Chris Butler
Injured: Nikita Soshnikov (upper body), Jordan Schmaltz (upper body)

Coyotes projected lineup

Richard Panik -- Derek Stepan -- Clayton Keller
Max Domi -- Dylan Strome -- Zac Rinaldo
Brendan Perlini -- Josh Archibald -- Christian Fischer
Jordan Martinook -- Brad Richardson -- Nick Cousins
Oliver Ekman-Larsson -- Luke Schenn
Jakob Chychrun -- Alex Goligoski
Kevin Connauton -- Trevor Murphy
Antti Raanta
Darcy Kuemper
Scratched: Freddie Hamilton
Injured: Laurent Dauphin (lower body), Niklas Hjalmarsson (lower body), Jason Demers (upper body), Christian Dvorak (lower body)

Status report

The Blues recalled Butler under emergency conditions from San Antonio of the American Hockey League. Soshnikov did not accompany St. Louis on its two-game road trip. … Dvorak missed the morning skate and will be a game-time decision.

Stat pack

Schwartz has 14 points (four goals, 10 assists) in his past 14 games. Tarasenko has five points (four goals, one assist) in his past four games. … Keller has 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in his past 11 games. Stepan has eight points (one goal, seven assists) in his past seven games.