The Vegas Golden Knights and St. Louis Blues each will play their second game of the round-robin portion of the Stanley Cup Qualifiers at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Thursday.
The Golden Knights scored four third-period goals Monday in a 5-3 win against the Dallas Stars in Edmonton, the Western Conference hub city. The Blues lost 2-1 to the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday when Nazem Kadri scored the winner with 0.1 seconds left in the third period.
The round-robin will set the top four seeds for the West in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Avalanche are 2-0-0 in the round-robin; the Stars are 0-2-0.
Here are 3 keys to the round-robin game:
1. Complete game needed
Vegas played poorly in the first and second periods against Dallas before outshooting the Stars 16-6 in the third in their comeback win. Coach Peter DeBoer said he expects the Golden Knights to play a more complete game against the Blues.
"The way we won I think was good because most nights when you only play 20 minutes you're not going to win, so we learned a lesson without it costing us two points," he said. "Those nights are rare that you get away with that. We'll take it, we showed some confidence and some resiliency to come back and to fix some of the things that were wrong with our game and found a way to get two points."
2. Blues look to jump-start offense
Including a 4-0 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks in an exhibition game July 29, the Blues have not scored an even-strength goal since arriving in Edmonton. Their goal against Colorado came on a power play. The top line of Jaden Schwartz, Brayden Schenn and Vladimir Tarasenko combined for three shots on goal -- two on the power play -- and was minus-3. Tarasenko, who had two shots, hadn't played a meaningful game since he dislocated his left shoulder Oct. 24.
"They need to have the puck a lot more than they had," coach Craig Berube said. "They never had the puck enough in that game. They never possessed it enough in the offensive zone and did enough things with it. They know that, and they'll be better."
DeBoer said he expects Pacioretty to join the Golden Knights soon. Pacioretty, who was Vegas' leading scorer with 32 goals and 66 points in 71 games, was injured in training camp and hasn't practiced since July 19.
"He's getting a lot closer," DeBoer said. "I'm sure he'll get an appearance soon."
Neither coach announced a starting goalie. … MacEachern will replace Barbashev on the Blues' fourth line. Barbashev returned to St. Louis to be with his wife for the birth of their first child. … Berube said Thomas has a minor issue and may not play. Kyrou would take his place.
