Blues at Rangers preview

BLUES (39-17-10) at RANGERS (35-26-4)
7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, MSG, FS-MW, NHL.TV

The Blues, who have outscored opponents 25-12 during their seven-game winning streak, last won eight straight from Dec. 12-29. St. Louis is in first place in the Central Division, one point ahead of the Colorado Avalanche.
Rangers forward Artemi Panarin will try to extend his point streak to 14 games. Panarin has 19 points (five goals, 14 assists) during the streak, including multipoint games in five of his past six.
Goalie Alexandar Georgiev will start for New York, which has lost two straight games since winning five in a row and nine of its previous 10 (9-1-0). The Rangers are four points behind the New York Islanders and Columbus Blue Jackets for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.

Players to watch

Blues forward Brayden Schenn has four goals during a four-game goal streak.
Rangers center Mika Zibanejad has 28 points (14 goals, 14 assists) in his past 18 games.

They said it

"They are desperate for points. Since January they've been playing really well. … They are going to come out hard and desperate and have a lot of firepower up front so we have to be ready for it." -- Blues forward Robert Thomas
"Obviously not the result we wanted (losses to the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday and Sunday), but you know, we're still in the race. We didn't really lose too much ground. At this time of year we just have to find a way. There's not much time to dwell on the past. … Good chance for us to play at home this week, a couple of really tough games and it should be a pretty good measuring stick." -- Rangers forward Ryan Strome

Blues projected lineup

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

Rangers projected lineup

Phillip Di Giuseppe -- Mika Zibanejad -- Pavel Buchnevich
Artemi Panarin -- Ryan Strome -- Jesper Fast
Brett Howden -- Filip Chytil -- Kaapo Kakko
Brendan Lemieux -- Greg McKegg -- Julien Gauthier
Brendan Smith -- Jacob Trouba
Marc Staal -- Tony DeAngelo
Ryan Lindgren -- Adam Fox
Alexandar Georgiev
Henrik Lundqvist
Scratched:None
Injured:Chris Kreider (fractured foot), Micheal Haley (core muscle), Igor Shesterkin (rib fracture)

Status report

Kyrou, who did not play in a 4-3 shootout win against the Dallas Stars on Saturday because of an illness and Parayko (illness) each will be a game-time decision. If Kyrou can't play, he could be replaced by de la Rose. … The Rangers didn't hold a morning skate but are expected to dress the same skaters from a 5-3 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday.

Stat pack

O'Reilly has seven points (two goals, five assists) in his past six games and will play his 800th NHL game. … Binnington is 5-0-0, with a 1.58 goals-against average, .928 save percentage and two shutouts in his past five games. … The Rangers lead the all-time season series, 81-45-2 with 16 ties. … New York has outscored opponents 84-58 in the third period; its plus-26 goal differential in the third period ranks first in the NHL.