St. Louis @ Florida preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 11, 2018 ) Florida 3, St. Louis 4

The St. Louis Blues have returned to their tried-and-true formula of relying on Vladimir Tarasenko and a stingy defense as a means to crawl within earshot of the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference. Winners of two in a row and owners of a 6-2-1 mark in their last nine contests, the Blues bid to continue their ascent on Tuesday when they visit the Sunshine State to face the Florida Panthers.

Tarasenko collected a goal and two assists in Saturday's 4-2 victory versus sliding Columbus to boost his point total to 11 (six goals, five assists) in his past nine games. The 27-year-old Russian recorded 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in his first 10 encounters with Florida before being held off the scoresheet in St. Louis' 4-3 win on Dec. 11. That victory improved the Blues to 9-4-0 in their last 13 meetings with the Panthers, who have answered a seven-game skid (0-5-2) with four wins in their last five outings. Mike Hoffman scored his team-leading 24th goal in the third period of Saturday's 3-1 victory versus Vegas and also tallied in the previous encounter with St. Louis.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, FS Midwest (St. Louis), FS Florida

ABOUT THE BLUES (23-22-5): Tarasenko's 18 tallies are one shy of linemate Ryan O'Reilly, who scored and set up a goal versus the Blue Jackets to extend his point streak to seven games (three goals, seven assists) and bolster the optimism of the team's chances for the postseason. "You can feel it," the 27-year-old O'Reilly said. "We're making our push. I believe we're going to get in (to the playoffs). We're just going to take it one game at a time." While O'Reilly collected his 300th career assist on Saturday, Brayden Schenn set up three goals against Columbus to eclipse 200 in his career and capped St. Louis' four-goal third period by scoring with 3:55 remaining in the first meeting with the Panthers.

ABOUT THE PANTHERS (21-21-8): Aleksander Barkov collected a goal and an assist versus the Golden Knights to move within one point of 50 for the season and two shy of 300 for his career. Jonathan Huberdeau notched two of his club-best 37 assists in the first match with St. Louis and has 30 (11 goals, 19 assists) of his team-leading 50 points at home this season. Evgenii Dadonov, who scored in the first contest with the Blues, had four assists in a three-game stretch before being held in check versus Vegas.

OVERTIME

1. Florida C Frank Vatrano has scored seven of his 17 goals since the calendar flipped to 2019.

2. The Blues have permitted two goals or fewer in seven of their past nine games.

3. Panthers G Roberto Luongo fell to 17-13-2 in his career versus the Blues despite making 29 saves in the previous meeting.

PREDICTION: Blues 3, Panthers 2