Preview: Jets at Blues

JETS (11-13-2) at BLUES (14-7-3)
7 p.m. ET; SN, FS-MW, NHL.TV

Jets team scope

Goaltender Michael Hutchinson will make his first start since Nov. 19 when the Winnipeg Jets play at the St. Louis Blues in the first of back-to-back games. The Jets will play at the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday. Hutchinson relieved Connor Hellebuyck on Thursday and played the final 13 minutes of a 6-3 loss to the Boston Bruins. "His practices have been really good," Jets coach Paul Maurice said. "He had a solid game against Boston [making 34 saves in a 4-1 loss on Nov. 19] and then didn't go in, Connor playing very, very well, and what he needed to do was turn those practices into games and he's done that. Because of that, you're more open to putting a player in. You feel that he's sharper." Before winning two straight, the Jets had lost five in a row and are 2-6-0 in their past eight. "Just kind of throw it out and forget about it," defenseman Jacob Trouba said, "and take what failed in that game [Thursday] and we need to correct it and get back to the game we were playing prior to that game." Jets rookie right wing Patrik Laine has three goals in the past two games after going six straight without one.

Blues team scope

Despite winning seven of their past eight games, and owning an 11-1-2 record at Scottrade Center this season, the Blues are making center Jori Lehtera a healthy scratch Saturday. Lehtera has seven points (three goals, four assists) in 20 games. "We just need more from that position," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. "That's a three position or a two position. It doesn't matter who grabs it, we need more from that position. And we don't need more points, we need more playing through the competition. So whoever grabs it, whether it's [Patrik Berglund] or whatever I decide, [Lehtera] will go back in right away here, but we just need more from that position. We need more definition, more identity, more determination, whatever. We need to know that that position on our team is a very important position and we need to see the other team pay more attention to it." Goalie Carter Hutton will start for the first time in four games and second time in the past nine. "Jake [Allen's] been outstanding," Hutton said of Allen's seven-game winning streak. "It's obviously nice to get the nod and I couldn't be more excited to get in there."

Jets projected lineup

Nikolaj Ehlers -- Mark Scheifele -- Patrik Laine
Drew Stafford -- Bryan Little -- Blake Wheeler
Mathieu Perreault -- Adam Lowry -- Brandon Tanev
Marko Dano -- Andrew Copp -- Chris Thorburn
Josh Morrissey -- Dustin Byfuglien
Toby Enstrom -- Jacob Trouba
Ben Chiarot -- Paul Postma
Michael Hutchinson
Connor Hellebuyck
Scratched:Alexander Burmistrov, Kyle Connor, Mark Stuart
Injured:Joel Armia (lower body), Shawn Matthias (lower body), Tyler Myers (lower body), Nic Petan (lower body)

Blues projected lineup

Jaden Schwartz -- Paul Stastny -- David Perron
Robby Fabbri -- Alexander Steen -- Vladimir Tarasenko
Dmitrij Jaskin -- Patrik Berglund -- Nail Yakupov
Scottie Upshall -- Kyle Brodziak -- Ryan Reaves
Jay Bouwmeester -- Alex Pietrangelo
Carl Gunnarsson -- Kevin Shattenkirk
Robert Bortuzzo -- Colton Parayko
Carter Hutton
Jake Allen
Scratched:Jori Lehtera, Ty Rattie
Injured:Joel Edmundson (upper body)

Status report

With Lehtera out, Nail Yakupov will play for the first time in four games; he had been a healthy scratch eight of the past 13 games. "He's had three good practices," Hitchcock said of Yakupov. "He's getting better at understanding what it's like to be a player on this team. I've seen a real emergence here in the last three practices where the things that are important for us are becoming very important for him." ... Perreault and Dano will flip positions on the Jets' third- and fourth-line positions on left wing. ... Edmundson is getting close to returning, and could play at some point next week, Hitchcock said.

Who's hot

Tarasenko has 18 points (nine goals, nine assists) in the past 13 games, with points in 11 of those games. … . Schwartz has nine points (five goals, four assists) the past eight games. … Perron has 11 points (three goals, eight assists) in the past nine games. … Wheeler has a goal and two assists in a three-game point streak.