Arizona @ St. Louis preview

Last Meeting ( Feb 14, 2019 ) St. Louis 4, Arizona 0

The St. Louis Blues will be without Vladimir Tarasenko and his club-most 28 goals for at least the next four games beginning with Tuesday's contest against the visiting Arizona Coyotes. It is believed that Tarasenko, who is second on the team with 58 points, sustained an elbow injury in Thursday's 4-0 victory at Los Angeles before sitting out Saturday's 3-2 overtime loss in San Jose.

"It's unfortunate for the team and him for sure," St. Louis interim coach Craig Berube told reporters. "But he'll recover and get back when he can. We got guys that can do the job. You just gotta keep going ... just plugging along." The Blues will give 19-year-old rookie Robert Thomas (two goals, five points in the last five games) a shot on the top line with Ryan O'Reilly and Brayden Schenn, with O'Reilly telling the media about the 20th overall pick in the 2017 draft: "He's played some great hockey. ... I think it's nice to have a right-hand shot (on the line). That gives us, offensively, a couple more different looks that we haven't really had." St. Louis sits third in the Central Division after completing a 2-0-1 trip to California, four points behind second-place Nashville and six clear of ninth-place Arizona for a postseason berth. The Coyotes were crushed at Chicago 7-1 on Monday - matching their most lopsided loss of the season - and are one point behind Minnesota for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference after losing for only the second time in their last 10 games.

TV: 8 p.m. ET, FS Arizona, FS Midwest (St. Louis)

ABOUT THE COYOTES (34-30-5): Darcy Kuemper (22-16-5, .918 save percentage) entered Monday with nine victories in his last 10 starts before allowing four goals on 16 shots versus Chicago and yielding the net to Calvin Pickard. Richard Panik (398 career games) snapped a nine-game scoring drought Monday with his 12th goal of the season and has six points in his last six games. Clayton Keller was kept off the scoresheet versus Chicago but has recorded six of his team-high 44 points in the last eight contests.

ABOUT THE BLUES (36-25-7): Schenn (13 goals, 44 points) has two goals - both on the power play - along with three assists, and is a plus-2 in three games since missing six with an upper-body injury. O'Reilly boasts 26 goals and a team-high 66 points while providing a strong two-way game that includes leading the league with 13.5 faceoffs won per contest. Rookie sensation Jordan Binnington (16-3-1, 1.80 goals-against average, .929 save percentage) will start in goal Tuesday after Jake Allen played back-to-back games for the first time since Jan. 3-5.

OVERTIME

1. St. Louis is 5-for-11 on the power play in its last three contests while Arizona is second in the league in penalty killing (85.1 percent) after going 4-for-4 in its last three games.

2. The Coyotes are second in the league in short-handed goals with 14 with five of RW Michael Grabner's eight tallies this season coming in that fashion.

3. The clubs split their first two of three meetings this season in blowout fashion with Arizona prevailing 6-1 on Dec. 1 and St. Louis returning the favor 4-0 on Feb. 14 behind 21 saves from Binnington.

PREDICTION: Blues 3, Coyotes 2