Blues at Hurricanes preview

BLUES (34-23-6) at HURRICANES (34-23-6)
7:30 p.m. ET; FS-CR, FS-MW, NHL.TV

The Hurricanes, who have outscored opponents 13-4 during a three-game winning streak and are 12-3-1 in their past 16 games, hold the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the Eastern Conference and are tied in points with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Goalie Curtis McElhinney will start for Carolina; he's 5-1-0 with a 1.50 goals-against average, .950 save percentage and two shutouts in his past six starts.
The Blues are 13-1-1 in their past 15 games and have allowed two goals or fewer in seven of their past eight, including four shutouts. St. Louis is in third place in the Central Division, four points behind the second-place Winnipeg Jets and five behind the first-place Nashville Predators.
St. Louis goalie Jake Allen will start; he's 7-2-1 with a 1.90 goals-against average, a .937 save percentage and two shutouts in his past 10 road starts.

Players to watch

Blues forward Vladimir Tarasenko has 25 points (12 goals, 13 assists) in his past 17 games.
Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho has 19 points (four goals, 15 assists) in his past 16 games.

They said it

"[Sebastian] Aho is a great player. He's obviously having a great year. They've got real good team speed, they play tight. They play in five-man units in all three zones. They don't give you a lot of room out there and they shoot everything." -- Blues coach Craig Berube on the Hurricanes
"We always said [in past seasons] you're playing for pride and you're playing for all that stuff, but it's all just words. Everyone plays to be in this spot, to be in playoff position and to get into that little dance in April." -- Hurricanes defenseman Justin Faulk

Blues projected lineup

Jaden Schwartz -- Ryan O'Reilly -- Vladimir Tarasenko
Robby Fabbri -- Tyler Bozak -- Alexander Steen
Pat Maroon -- Oskar Sundqvist -- Robert Thomas
Mackenzie MacEachern -- Ivan Barbashev -- Zach Sanford
Joel Edmundson -- Alex Pietrangelo
Jay Bouwmeester -- Colton Parayko
Vince Dunn -- Robert Bortuzzo
Jake Allen
Jordan Binnington
Scratched: Michael Del Zotto
Injured: Brayden Schenn (upper body), David Perron (upper body), Carl Gunnarsson (upper body)

Hurricanes projected lineup

Nino Niederreiter -- Sebastian Aho -- Justin Williams
Micheal Ferland -- Jordan Staal -- Teuvo Teravainen
Andrei Svechnikov -- Jordan Martinook -- Brock McGinn
Saku Maenalanen -- Greg McKegg -- Warren Foegele
Jaccob Slavin -- Dougie Hamilton
Brett Pesce -- Justin Faulk
Haydn Fleury -- Trevor van Riemsdyk
Curtis McElhinney
Petr Mrazek
Scratched: Lucas Wallmark, Jake Bean
Injured: Calvin de Haan (upper body)

Status report

Binnington is expected to start when the Blues play at the Dallas Stars on Saturday. … De Haan will miss his first game of the season after sustaining an injury in the weight room following the Hurricanes' 6-1 win against the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday.

Stat pack

O'Reilly has 21 points (eight goals, 13 assists) in his past 10 games. … Steen is two points shy of 600 in the NHL. … Teravainen has seven points (one goal, six assists) during a three-game point streak.