Jets at Blues preview

JETS (35-16-9) at BLUES (34-23-4)
8 p.m. ET; FS-MW, TSN3, NHL.TV

The Blues hold the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference; they are one point ahead of the Los Angeles Kings and Calgary Flames. St. Louis trails the Minnesota Wild by one point for the first wild card and is two points behind the Dallas Stars for third place in the Central Division.
Goaltender Jake Allen will start. He made 20 saves in a 5-2 win against the Jets at Bell MTS Place on Feb. 9.
The Jets, who went 6-3-1 during a 10-game homestand that concluded with a 4-3 loss to the Kings on Tuesday, will play their first road game since Jan. 25. Winnipeg, 9-3-2 in its past 14 games, trails the first-place Nashville Predators by four points in the Central Division.

Players to watch

Jets forward Blake Wheeler has 11 points (three goals, eight assists) during a six-game point streak; he has 28 points (11 goals, 17 assists) in 26 games against St. Louis.
Blues forward Vladimir Tarasenko has one goal and three assists during a three-game point streak; he has 17 points (nine goals, eight assists) in 20 games against Winnipeg.

They said it

"You've got an unusual number of teams that haven't been in this situation sitting close to that [postseason] outline. I think you're going to see this push for the last five weeks here." -- Jets coach Paul Maurice
"It's obviously been in the back of our minds, it's something that we don't enjoy. We all want to win. When you drop four in a row, it's no fun." -- Blues defenseman Colton Parayko

Jets projected lineup

Kyle Connor -- Mark Scheifele -- Blake Wheeler
Mathieu Perreault -- Bryan Little -- Jack Roslovic
Nikolaj Ehlers -- Andrew Copp -- Patrik Laine
Nic Petan -- Matt Hendricks -- Joel Armia
Toby Enstrom -- Dustin Byfuglien
Josh Morrissey -- Tyler Myers
Ben Chiarot -- Dmitry Kulikov
Connor Hellebuyck
Michael Hutchinson
Scratched:Tucker Poolman, Marko Dano
Injured:Shawn Matthias (upper body), Steve Mason (concussion), Jacob Trouba (ankle), Adam Lowry (upper body), Brandon Tanev (upper body)

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Blues projected lineup

Alexander Steen -- Paul Stastny -- Vladimir Tarasenko
Jaden Schwartz -- Brayden Schenn -- Patrik Berglund
Ivan Barbashev -- Vladimir Sobotka -- Dmitrij Jaskin
Scottie Upshall -- Kyle Brodziak -- Chris Thorburn
Carl Gunnarsson -- Alex Pietrangelo
Jay Bouwmeester -- Colton Parayko
Chris Butler -- Vince Dunn
Jake Allen
Carter Hutton
Scratched:Oskar Sundqvist
Injured:Joel Edmundson (forearm), Robert Bortuzzo (knee), Sammy Blais (concussion)

Status report

Tanev skated but wore a non-contact jersey. ... Bortuzzo was placed on injured reserve Thursday with a left knee injury sustained Feb. 16 against the Stars. The Blues are still waiting for the arrival of forward Nikita Soshnikov, who is awaiting the completion of his visa paperwork. Soshnikov was acquired in a trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Feb. 15 for a fourth-round pick in the 2019 NHL Draft.

Stat pack

Byfuglien has one goal and six assists during a four-game point streak. Laine has a goal and an assist in each of his past three games. ... Steen has 14 points (seven goals, seven assists) in his past 15 games.