Blues at Flames preview

BLUES (22-11-2) at FLAMES (17-14-3)
9:30 p.m. ET; SN360, FS-MW, NHL.TV

Jagr, who trails Ron Francis (1,731) by one for third in NHL history in games played, has missed 12 of Calgary's past 26 games with the injury. Jagr needs 38 games to pass Gordie Howe (1,767) for the most games played in League history.
The Flames are 1-2-1 in their past four games and 3-4-2 in their past nine. The Blues are 1-3-0 in their past four games after a four-game winning streak. St. Louis has scored three goals in the past four games and has been shut out twice.

Players to watch

St. Louis forward Alexander Steen has six points (two goals, four assists) in two games against the Flames this season, and 17 points (three goals, 14 assists) in 29 games.
Calgary forward Sam Bennett has 12 points (four goals, eight assists) in his past 11 games.

They said it

"There are no easy games anymore. They're in a fight, as are we. Even though we're heading to the Christmas break, we need all six points on this road trip. With our division being so tight and so good, all points matter." -- Blues forward Brayden Schenn
"It takes time to do things consistently and sometimes you don't see the results right away, but over the course of time if you continue to do good things you're going to get rewarded for it. That's the mindset we have right now." -- Flames goaltender Mike Smith

Blues projected lineup

Vladimir Sobotka -- Brayden Schenn -- Vladimir Tarasenko
Alexander Steen -- Paul Stastny -- Tage Thompson
Magnus Paajarvi -- Patrik Berglund -- Ivan Barbashev
Scottie Upshall -- Kyle Brodziak -- Dmitrij Jaskin
Carl Gunnarsson -- Alex Pietrangelo
Joel Edmundson -- Colton Parayko
Vince Dunn -- Robert Bortuzzo
Carter Hutton
Jake Allen
Scratched : Chris Thorburn, Oskar Sundqvist,
Jordan Schmaltz
Injured : Jay Bouwmeester (lower body), Jaden Schwartz (ankle), Zach Sanford (shoulder),
Sammy Blais
(lower body)

Flames projected lineup

Johnny Gaudreau -- Sean Monahan -- Micheal Ferland
Matthew Tkachuk -- Mikael Backlund -- Michael Frolik
Sam Bennett --
Mark Jankowski
--
Garnet Hathaway
Troy Brouwer -- Matt Stajan -- Curtis Lazar
Mark Giordano -- Dougie Hamilton
TJ Brodie -- Travis Hamonic
Brett Kulak -- Michael Stone
Mike Smith
David Rittich
Scratched : Freddie Hamilton, Matt Bartkowski
Injured : Kris Versteeg (hip), Jaromir Jagr (lower body)

Status report

The Blues recalled Thompson from San Antonio of the American Hockey League on Monday. The Flames, who held an optional morning skate, will dress Lazar in place of Jagr.

Stat pack

Schenn has one point, an assist, in the past four games after having seven points (six goals, one assist) in his previous four games. … Monahan has been held without a point in five straight games after getting 14 points (nine goals, five assists) in his previous 11 games. Smith is 1-2-2 with nine goals against in his past five games.