Blues at Golden Knights preview

BLUES (43-28-5) at GOLDEN KNIGHTS (48-22-7)
10:30 p.m. ET; ATTSN-RM, FS-MW, NHL. TV

St. Louis holds the first wild card into the playoffs from the Western Conference; the Blues are even in points with the Anaheim Ducks but have a game in hand. The Blues and Ducks are one point ahead of the Colorado Avalanche. St. Louis trails the Minnesota Wild by five points for third place in the Central Division.
A seven-game winning streak would be the Blues' longest since Jan. 17 - Feb. 5, 2015.
Vegas is 3-1-2 in its past six games and has clinched a playoff berth. The Golden Knights lead the second-place San Jose Sharks by five points in the Pacific Division. The Sharks come to T-Mobile Arena on Saturday.

Players to watch

Blues forward Vladimir Tarasenko has scored four goals in his past three games. His two-goal game on Tuesday against San Jose was his sixth multigoal game of the season.
Golden Knights forward Jonathan Marchessault has three goals and five assists during a six-game point streak.

They said it

"I've been skating and working hard to get back for the last couple of weeks. No better place to do it than Vegas, against a team that's been good with a big weekend ahead for us." -- Blues forward Scottie Upshall
"There's too many teams, too many scenarios out there. It's just another big game against another good team that's playing really good hockey." -- Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant on a potential first-round matchup against the Blues

Blues projected lineup

Jaden Schwartz -- Brayden Schenn -- Vladimir Tarasenko
Patrik Berglund -- Kyle Brodziak -- Alexander Steen
Dmitrij Jaskin -- Vladimir Sobotka -- Ivan Barbashev
Scottie Upshall -- Oskar Sundqvist -- Chris Thorburn
Joel Edmundson -- Alex Pietrangelo
Vince Dunn -- Colton Parayko
Robert Bortuzzo -- Jordan Schmaltz
Jake Allen
Carter Hutton
Scratched:None
Injured:Nikita Soshnikov (upper body)

Golden Knights projected lineup

Jonathan Marchessault -- William Karlsson -- Alex Tuch
David Perron -- Erik Haula -- James Neal
Alex Tuch
-- Cody Eakin -- Tomas Tatar
Ryan Carpenter -- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare -- Tomas Nosek
Brayden McNabb -- Nate Schmidt
Shea Theodore -- Deryk Engelland
Jon Merrill -- Colin Miller
Malcolm Subban
Marc-Andre Fleury
Scratched:Oscar Lindberg, Brad Hunt, Zach Whitecloud
Injured:Reilly Smith (upper body), William Carrier (upper body), Luca Sbisa (upper body)

Status report

Upshall will return after missing 10 games with an MCL sprain … Perron is expected to play Friday after being a healthy scratch Wednesday against the Arizona Coyotes. Subban is likely to start, with Fleury playing against the Sharks on Saturday.

Stat pack

St. Louis has allowed two goals or fewer in each of its past four games and seven of its past 10. Pietrangelo has 13 points (four goals, nine assists) in his past nine games. Allen is 6-0-0 with a 1.97 goals-against average in his past six starts … Vegas has allowed two goals or fewer in five of its past six games. Karlsson has eight points (four goals, four assists) in his past six games.