St. Louis @ Vancouver preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 9, 2018 ) Vancouver 6, St. Louis 1

The St. Louis Blues were mired in a 4-9-1 slump after a 6-1 home loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Dec. 9 but have won three of four since after leaving Edmonton with a 4-1 victory on Tuesday. The Blues will be looking for redemption Thursday when they visit Vancouver on the second stop of their only road trip through Western Canada this season.

The suddenly-hot Canucks saw a six-game point streak end on Tuesday in a feisty 5-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning that saw a 10-minute misconduct, four fighting majors and seven roughing penalties doled out in a hotly-contested second period. “I like the way our team is coming together,” Canucks coach Travis Green told reporters after his team suffered its first regulation defeat since Dec. 4. “They’re sticking together, they’re battling hard. That was a man’s game out there tonight.” Vladimir Tarasenko’s seven-game scoring drought ended with power-play goal in the third as St. Louis handed Edmonton its first loss in seven home games under new coach Ken Hitchcock. “It was a real solid team effort,” Blues interim coach Craig Berube told the media. “Man to man, everybody was dialed in and played a real solid team game for 60 minutes.”

TV: 10 p.m. ET, FS Midwest (St. Louis), Sportsnet Pacific (Vancouver)

ABOUT THE BLUES (13-15-4): Jake Allen made 22 saves and failed to surrender a goal in the opening frame for the first time in five games during Tuesday’s win, after the goaltender had given up 10 goals on 40 first period shots over his last previous four outings. Ryan O’Reilly has been one of the best offseason acquisitions in the NHL as the 10-year-veteran leads the Blues in goals (13) along with assists (19) and is tied for second in the league in faceoff wins (436) entering Wednesday - trailing only the Canucks’ Bo Horvat (497). Jaden Schwartz has totaled 116 goals and 169 assists in his eight seasons in St. Louis as the forward gets set to play his 400th NHL game on Thursday.

ABOUT THE CANUCKS (16-17-4): Jacob Markstrom had a scheduled day off Tuesday but has been on fire in December as the netminder is 5-0-0 with a .937 save percentage and a 1.80 goals against average since the calendar turned. Vancouver registered its most lopsided victory of the season less than two weeks ago against the Blues as 20-year-old Elias Pettersson potted a goal and added four helpers while sniper Brock Boeser recorded the second hat trick of his career. Pettersson saw his seven-game point streak end against the Lightning (four goals, nine assists) but the Swede still leads the Canucks and all NHL rookies in goals (17), assists (18) and power play points (11).

OVERTIME

1. The Canucks and Blues are tied for 12th in the league with 22 power play goals, but Vancouver enters Wednesday sitting fourth in opportunities (121) while the Blues are tied for 22nd (101).

2. Pettersson’s 35 points this season gives him 12 more than the next closest rookie through Tuesday - Ottawa’s Colin White (23).

3. Allen was pulled in the first period after giving up three goals on six shots in the Blues’ Dec. 9 loss to Vancouver.

PREDICTION: Canucks 5, Blues 3