St. Louis @ Buffalo preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 27, 2018 ) Buffalo 1, St. Louis 4

The St. Louis Blues appear to have their mojo back as they conclude a three-game road trip Sunday afternoon against the Buffalo Sabres. St. Louis bounced back from a 2-0 loss to league-worst Ottawa on Thursday with an impressive 5-1 victory over surging Pittsburgh two days later and are third in the Central Division, two points ahead of Dallas and five clear of a wild-card spot in the West.

"I just think we played with more emotion," Blues defenseman Vince Dunn told reporters after scoring twice on Saturday. "I think it's a good step forward for us. I think we found our game again." The Sabres scored for the first time in four games in Saturday's 4-2 loss at Carolina that marked their seventh straight setback and dropped them to 2-11-2 in their last 15 contests. Sunday's game will be a homecoming of sorts for St. Louis' Ryan O'Reilly (team-high 68 points), who will play his first game in Buffalo after recording 65 goals and 176 points in three seasons with the Sabres. Blues goaltender Jake Allen is expected to play after rookie Jordan Binnington (17-4-1) made a career-high 40 saves versus Pittsburgh to avoid the first losing streak of his career.

TV: 5 p.m. ET, NHL Network, FS Midwest (St. Louis), MSG (Buffalo)

ABOUT THE BLUES (37-27-7): David Perron recorded an assist Saturday in his first game since missing 24 with a concussion to extend his point streak to 14 contests (six goals, 11 assists). "I thought (Perron) had a real good game," interim coach Craig Berube told reporters. "He could've had a couple goals himself. He did a really good job of hanging onto that puck in the offensive zone like he does, and kinda set the tone a little bit for us." Patrick Maroon recorded a goal and an assist versus Pittsburgh - his second two-point effort of the season - and has netted two of his six tallies in 2018-19 in his last four contests.

ABOUT THE SABRES (30-32-9): Jeff Skinner scored his team-high 37th goal Saturday to snap a 13-game drought, giving him four tallies in three games against his former team. Captain Jack Eichel (club-most 72 points) returned to the lineup after serving a two-game suspension for an illegal check to the head of Colorado's Carl Soderberg and registered six shots. Carter Hutton likely will get a chance to post his first career win versus St. Louis (0-3-3, 3.51 goals-against average, .881 save percentage) after Linus Ullmark stopped 25 shots on Saturday.

OVERTIME

1. Dunn has recorded 11 goals, giving the Blues three defensemen with at least 10 for the first time in club history (Alex Pietrangelo, 12; Colton Parayko, 10).

2. Buffalo C Sam Reinhart needs one point for 200 in his career, Skinner is two goals shy of 200 and Eichel needs a pair of tallies to reach 100.

3. St. Louis has won three straight meetings - including 4-1 on Dec. 27 in the first of two encounters this season, with O'Reilly scoring in his first game against his former team.

PREDICTION: Blues 3, Sabres 2