Dallas @ St. Louis preview
Enterprise Center
Last Meeting ( Feb 21, 2019 ) St. Louis 2, Dallas 5
The playoffs essentially have started for the Dallas Stars, who visit the St. Louis Blues on Saturday while precariously holding a playoff spot in the Western Conference. Dallas, Minnesota, Colorado and Arizona are battling for the two wild-card positions in the West while the Stars are five points behind St. Louis for third place in the Central Division after Thursday's 4-3 overtime victory in Los Angeles.
"Everyone in this locker room is aware of where we're at in the standings," Stars left wing Blake Comeau told reporters after recording two assists on Thursday. Dallas hopes to have captain Jamie Benn back in the lineup Saturday after the power forward, whose 21 goals are second on the club only to Tyler Seguin (27), missed the last two games with an upper-body injury. The Blues rode an 11-game winning streak into a playoff position but have lost three of their last five contests (2-2-1) after Friday's 5-2 setback in Carolina. St. Louis' Jordan Binnington, the NHL Rookie of the Month for February after going 10-1-0 with a 1.44 goals-against average and .945 save percentage, is expected to resume his Cinderella season versus the Stars after Jake Allen made 19 saves on Friday.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, FS Southwest Plus (Dallas), FS Midwest (St. Louis)
ABOUT THE STARS (32-27-5): Seguin has registered a club-high 59 points after recording three goals and two assists in his last six contests while Alexander Radulov (51 points) has collected two goals (17 this season) and three assists during his four-game point streak. Ben Bishop is 5-6-1 with a 2.22 goals-against average and .922 save percentage against St. Louis after stopping 51-of-55 shots while splitting two meetings this season. Andrew Cogliano was out of Thursday's lineup because of injury (upper body) for the first time in his career (929 games), missing only two other contests because of suspension last season after playing his first 830 NHL games consecutively.
ABOUT THE BLUES (34-24-6): Vladimir Tarasenko (team-high 27 goals) was shut out by Carolina after recording 10 goals and 22 points in 14 games last month. Ryan O'Reilly (24 goals, club-most 63 points) was kept off the scoresheet Friday for a season-high fourth straight contest - his longest drought since a six-gamer from Nov. 22-Dec. 2, 2017. Defenseman Vince Dunn registered a goal and an assist versus Carolina after not recording a point in his previous five contests.
OVERTIME
1. St. Louis C Brayden Schenn (11 goals, 39 points) didn't make the trip and is expected to miss his sixth straight game because of an upper-body injury.
2. Dallas has allowed one power-play goal in five straight games and at least one in seven of its last eight contests, while the Blues have gone 23-for-23 on the penalty kill over their last nine games.
3. The Stars won two of the first three meetings this season, including a 5-2 victory in St. Louis on Feb. 21, with Seguin and Tarasenko scoring three goals apiece in the three encounters.
PREDICTION: Blues 3, Stars 2