Toronto @ St. Louis preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 20, 2018 ) St. Louis 4, Toronto 1

Vladimir Tarasenko and quality goaltending have served as the staples for the rapidly ascending St. Louis Blues, with the former riding a career-high 12-game point streak while the latter has been present in the form of three straight shutouts. The red-hot Blues vie for a franchise-best 11th straight win on Tuesday when they host the Toronto Maple Leafs, who were shut out in their last outing.

"I think everyone's happy as a team for that (winning streak), and it just shows how good we're playing as a team. I think it's fun to be a Blues fan now," said goaltender Jordan Binnington, who has sandwiched shutouts around Jake Allen's blanking of Colorado to extend the scoring woes of St. Louis' opponents to 187 minutes, 16 seconds. The 25-year-old Binnington made 31 saves in Sunday's 4-0 win over Minnesota to net his franchise rookie-best eighth straight win and improve to 12-1-1 as a starter with a 1.42 goals-against average and .944 save percentage. While St. Louis has surged into third place in the Central Division, Toronto finds itself in the same position in the Atlantic after answering a sizzling 6-1-0 stretch with Saturday's 2-0 setback in Arizona. The Maple Leafs' high-octane offense had registered at least four goals in five of the team's previous six contests before going cold in the desert.

TV: 8 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Network, Sportsnet Ontario, TVAS

ABOUT THE MAPLE LEAFS (36-19-3): Speedy third-line forward Andreas Johnsson participated in practice on Monday after sitting out versus the Coyotes with an injury sustained following a knee-on-knee collision with Vegas defenseman Brayden McNabb. While coach Mike Babcock told reporters that the team has yet to discuss the availability of the 24-year-old Swede for Tuesday's tilt, Johnsson labeled himself day-to-day and was pleased that the injury wasn't a serious one. Mitch Marner, who leads the team in assists (48) and points (69), set up defenseman Morgan Rielly's goal in the previous meeting with St. Louis and sits one point shy of 200 for his career.

ABOUT THE BLUES (31-22-5): Tarasenko earned NHL Second Star of the Week honors on Monday, one day after he collected a goal and two assists versus the Wild to give him 11 of each during his record point streak. The 27-year-old Russian pushed his point total to nine (six goals, three assists) in 10 career outings with Toronto after setting up the first goal of the season by Ryan O'Reilly in a 4-1 win on Oct. 20. O'Reilly, who leads the team in assists (38) and points (60), scored and set up a goal against Minnesota and did the same in the Blues' previous victory over the Maple Leafs.

OVERTIME

1. Tarasenko's point streak is one game shy of the longest by a Blues player this season (LW David Perron, Dec. 22-Jan. 17).

2. Toronto C John Tavares, who has a team-leading 33 goals, has three tallies and six assists in his last seven games.

3. St. Louis previously won 10 in a row from Jan. 3-23, 2002.

PREDICTION: Maple Leafs 4, Blues 2