Canucks at Blues preview

CANUCKS (12-16-3) at BLUES (10-13-4)
3 p.m. ET; FS-MW, SNP, NHL.TV

Perron, who had an assist Friday in a 1-0 win against the Winnipeg Jets, skated Saturday with extra forwards Sammy Blais and Jaden Schwartz, who has a hand injury.
Blues coach Craig Berube wouldn't say whether Perron would be scratched, but rookie Jordan Kyrou skated in Perron's spot on a line with Ryan O'Reilly and Zach Sanford. However, an hour or so before game time, Berube confirmed Perron as a healthy scratch.
Perron is third on the Blues with 16 points (eight goals, eight assists). He has no goals and one assist in his past four games and five points (three goals, two assists) in his past 14. Perron had an NHL career-best 66 points (16 goals, 50 assists) for the Vegas Golden Knights last season, then signed a four-year, $16 million contract (average annual value $4 million) with the Blues as a free agent July 1.
St. Louis, which is 2-1-1 in its past four games, is likely to start goalie Jake Allen after he moved into third place in Blues history with his 17th shutout Friday.
The Canucks begin a three-game road trip and have won two of their past 14 games (2-10-2).

Players to watch

Canucks center Bo Horvat has five points (two goals, three assists) the past four games.
Allen is 2-0-1 with a 1.29 goals-against average, a .956 save percentage and one shutout his past three starts. He is 7-2-2 in 11 games against Vancouver.

They said it

"We're going to play against another veteran group [Sunday] that's going to try and grind us down and we'll have to be ready for it. We're going to have to work for everything we get against this team." -- Canucks coach Travis Green
"It has been an issue for us, having that consistency and following up another game well. It's a big opportunity for us here. We need to establish our game." -- Blues center Ryan O'Reilly

Canucks projected lineup

Nikolay Goldobin -- Bo Horvat -- Jake Virtanen
Josh Leivo -- Elias Pettersson -- Brock Boeser
Antoine Roussel -- Adam Gaudette -- Loui Eriksson
Markus Granlund -- Jay Beagle -- Tyler Motte
Alexander Edler -- Chris Tanev
Ben Hutton -- Erik Gudbranson
Derrick Pouliot -- Troy Stecher
Jacob Markstrom
Anders Nilsson
Scratched:Tim Schaller, Michael Del Zotto, Alex Biega
Injured: Brandon Sutter (shoulder), Sven Baertschi (concussion)

Blues projected lineup

Zach Sanford -- Ryan O'Reilly -- Jordan Kyrou
Alexander Steen -- Brayden Schenn -- Vladimir Tarasenko
Pat Maroon -- Tyler Bozak -- Robert Thomas
Jordan Nolan -- Ivan Barbashev -- Oskar Sundqvist
Joel Edmundson -- Colton Parayko
Jay Bouwmeester -- Robert Bortuzzo
Vince Dunn -- Chris Butler
Jake Allen
Chad Johnson
Scratched:David Perron, Jordan Schmaltz, Sammy Blais
Injured: Jaden Schwartz (hand), Alex Pietrangelo (hand), Robby Fabbri (shoulder), Carl Gunnarsson (upper body)

Status report

Baertschi traveled and could begin skating as early as Sunday but will not play. ... Del Zotto is expected to be a healthy scratch for a second straight game. ... Schwartz has been practicing regularly for multiple days but will miss his 11th straight game.

Stat pack

Pettersson has three points (one goal, two assists) the past two games. ... Bozak has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in 12 games against the Canucks.