Blues at Blackhawks preview

BLUES (40-18-10) at BLACKHAWKS (31-29-8)
7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN

The Blues are 8-1-0 in their past nine after a five-game winless streak (0-3-2) and first in the Central Division and Western Conference, two points ahead of the Colorado Avalanche.
St. Louis can sweep the season series against Chicago for the first time. The Blues won 4-0 at United Center on Dec. 2 and 4-3 and 6-5 at Enterprise Center on Dec. 14 and Feb. 25, respectively.
The Blackhawks, 4-1-0 in their past five after going 1-4-0 in their previous five, trail the Vancouver Canucks, Nashville Predators and Winnipeg Jets by six points for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.

Players to watch

Blues center Brayden Schenn has eight points (five goals, three assists) in a six-game point streak.
Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane has four points (three goals, one assist) during a three-game goal/point streak.

They said it

"We want to get off to a better start than we have against [the Blackhawks] in the past. We've given them a little too much and have had to come from behind. We want to come out and match the intensity and kind of take control of that game early with our details and such."-- Blues forward Ryan O'Reilly
"The focus is on getting two points and bringing some energy. We know it'll be a big test, but I think we've been pretty good at home here lately (three straight wins), so we've got to keep that going." -- Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton

Blues projected lineup

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

Blackhawks projected lineup

Dominik Kubalik -- Jonathan Toews -- Brandon Saad
Alex Nylander -- Dylan Strome -- Patrick Kane
Alex DeBrincat -- Kirby Dach -- Drake Caggiula
Matthew Highmore -- David Kampf -- Ryan Carpenter
Duncan Keith -- Adam Boqvist
Olli Maatta -- Slater Koekkoek
Lucas Carlsson -- Connor Murphy
Corey Crawford
Malcolm Subban
Scratched:Nick Seeler
Injured:Lucas Carlsson (concussion protocol), Calvin de Haan (right shoulder), Brent Seabrook (right shoulder/left and right hip), Andrew Shaw (concussion protocol), Zack Smith (back)

Status report

The Blues did not hold a morning skate. … Faulk, a defenseman, is a game-time decision. … Boqvist is expected to play after missing Chicago's 2-1 loss at the Detroit Red Wings on Friday. … Crawford will make his ninth straight start.

Stat pack

Binnington is 6-1-0 with a 1.71 goals-against average, .929 save percentage and two shutouts in his past seven games. … O'Reilly has five points (one goal, four assists) in his past five games. … The Blackhawks are 0-for-10 on the power play in their past four games.