Detroit @ St. Louis preview

Last Meeting ( Nov 28, 2018 ) St. Louis 3, Detroit 4

The St. Louis Blues are virtually at full strength up front as they continue their quest for a top-three spot in the Central Division Thursday night against the visiting Detroit Red Wings. Top goal scorer Vladimir Tarasenko (28) returned to the lineup Tuesday and Jaden Schwartz recorded a hat trick as the Blues rolled to a 7-2 victory over Edmonton to remain two points up on Dallas for third place in the division.

“It’s nice when everyone’s healthy to get a good look at how deep we can be,” Schwartz told the St. Louis Dispatch. “This is the right time of year to be healthy. I don’t know if there’s a year in the past where we’ve had everyone at this time of year, which is nice to see.” The Blues have points in three straight outings (2-0-1) after a three-game losing streak (0-2-1) and are in the midst of playing seven of their final 10 contests on home ice where they must stay alert against a Detroit team that has won two in a row. The Red Wings are 29th out of 31 teams in the league in points (62) and will miss the playoffs for the third straight season, but have earned back-to-back one-goal wins over the New York Islanders and New York Rangers with Andreas Athanasiou scoring twice in each. “(Winning) matters now because you’ve got to do things right now leading yourself into the summer, and then have a good summer to come back into camp feeling good about yourself,” Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard, who signed a one-year contract extension Wednesday, told reporters. “For us, it’s going out there and doing things right and playing with pride.”

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

ABOUT THE RED WINGS (26-37-10): Athanasiou has scored five times in his last four games to take over the team lead and move within two of becoming the club’s first 30-goal scorer since 2008-09, when four different players did it. “His consistency in his engagement has been much better I think than previous years, and I think from Day 1 of camp he was that way,” coach Jeff Blashill told reporters of the speedy forward. “When he’s engaged he’s a really good player.” Center Dylan Larkin is also close to the milestone with 27 goals, but has not registered a point in two games since returning from a back injury that kept him out five contests.

ABOUT THE BLUES (38-27-8): Tarasenko recorded five shots on net without a point after missing five contests with an upper-body injury while Schwartz reached 10 goals on the season with his first hat trick since October 2017. “It’s a nice feeling,” Schwartz told reporters. “Maybe you grip the stick a little bit less when you see a couple going in and see a little bit more of the net. Obviously the linemates and other players made great plays on those goals and some nights they just seem to find a way and others they don’t.” Center Ryan O’Reilly does not have a goal in six games, but owns six of his team-best 69 points in the past eight contests.

OVERTIME

1. Detroit C Jacob de la Rose is expected to see a specialist after missing the third period Tuesday against the Rangers with an accelerated heartbeat.

2. St. Louis LW David Perron has registered a point in each of his last 16 contests, broken up by a 24-game absence because of a concussion, totaling nine goals and 12 assists in the run.

3. Red Wings LW Taro Hirose recorded an assist in his NHL debut Tuesday after being signed as a free agent recently out of Michigan State.

PREDICTION: Blues 4, Red Wings 2