Canucks at Blues preview

CANUCKS (26-39-9) at BLUES (40-28-5)
8 p.m. ET; FS-MW, SNP, NHL.TV

The forward had missed the past two games because of an upper-body injury.
St. Louis, which has won three straight games and five of six (5-1-0), can get within one point of Anaheim Ducks for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
The Canucks ended a seven-game losing streak (0-7-0) with a 5-2 win against the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday.

Players to watch

Canucks forward Daniel Sedin has three assists the past nine games after he had 14 points (eight goals, six assists) the previous 10 games.
Blues forward Jaden Schwartz has four points (two goals, two assists) during a three-game point streak and 11 points (four goals, seven assists) the past 10 games.

They said it

"It's always difficult when you don't win. We've done some good things, we've upped our battle level a little bit in a few of those games. We've got to take those positives with us, and it was nice to win [Thursday]." -- Canucks defenseman Alexander Edler
"It was kind of hard and sometimes excited because guys do a really good job. It's been a while since I missed the games so it was kind of weird feelings but now I feel good and ready to help the team." -- Blues forward Vladimir Tarasenko, on playing after missing two games

Canucks projected lineup

Brendan Leipsic -- Bo Horvat -- Jake Virtanen
Daniel Sedin -- Henrik Sedin -- Sam Gagner
Darren Archibald -- Brandon Sutter -- Jussi Jokinen
Tyler Motte -- Nic Dowd -- Nikolay Goldobin
Alexander Edler -- Chris Tanev
Michael Del Zotto -- Troy Stecher
Derrick Pouliot -- Alex Biega
Anders Nilsson
Jacob Markstrom
Scratched:Reid Boucher
Injured: Brock Boeser (back), Loui Eriksson (rib), Markus Granlund (ankle), Erik Gudbranson (shoulder), Ben Hutton (foot), Sven Baertschi (shoulder), Brendan Gaunce (foot)

Blues projected lineup

Jaden Schwartz -- Brayden Schenn -- Vladimir Tarasenko
Patrik Berglund -- Kyle Brodziak -- Alexander Steen
Dmitrij Jaskin -- Vladimir Sobotka -- Tage Thompson
Ivan Barbashev -- Oskar Sundqvist -- Chris Thorburn
Carl Gunnarsson -- Alex Pietrangelo
Vince Dunn -- Colton Parayko
Joel Edmundson -- Robert Bortuzzo
Jake Allen
Ville Husso
Scratched:Jordan Schmaltz
Injured: Carter Hutton (neck), Scottie Upshall (knee), Nikita Soshnikov (upper body)

Status report

The Canucks did not hold a morning skate. ... Nilsson could start after Markstrom played Thursday. ... With Tarasenko back with Schenn and Schwartz, Steen will shift onto a line with Berglund and Brodziak. ... Soshnikov is day to day. ... Allen will make his eighth straight start.

Stat pack

Horvat has three points (two goals, one assist) the past three games. ... Pietrangelo has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) the past six games.