Winnipeg @ St. Louis preview
Enterprise Center
Last Meeting ( Oct 24, 2023 ) St. Louis 2, Winnipeg 4
After scoring just 15 goals in their first eight games, the St. Louis Blues broke out offensively to score 10 times in back-to-back victories over the New Jersey Devils and Montreal Canadiens.
They will try to extend that offensive surge when they host the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday at Enterprise Center in the third game of a four-game homestand.
Forwards Jordan Kyrou (goal, two assists, nine shots on goal) and Robert Thomas (goal, assist) led the charge against the Canadiens on Saturday. Blues captain Brayden Schenn scored his first goal of the season and earned two assists.
"The stat sheet would say otherwise, but I don't feel like I've played that bad after the first couple games of the year," Schenn said. "I felt like I've had chances. I'm trying to play physical and do what I can, right? I always say, if you're not producing, you've got to find ways to do other things. I guess tonight, I got rewarded."
Kyrou snapped a seven-game goal-scoring drought and Thomas earned just his second multipoint game of the season.
"When you start scoring, you start loosening up a little bit," Thomas said. "Those plays that seem to be so tight, you take more time and you make the play correctly. It all comes with confidence, and just scoring. That's why you get hot and cold sometimes."
After scoring 37 goals last season, Kyrou has scored just twice this season. The Blues hope the Montreal game can become a turning point.
"He's an opportunistic guy and most importantly, his work ethic is where it needs to be right now," Schenn said of Kyrou. "He's playing hard in both ends. He's back-checking. He's winning his battles.
"When Jordan's his best, he's skating, he's moving. He obviously has the hands and the feet to make things happen. When his compete level is high and winning battles and doing things, both ends of the ice, that's when you see the best of him."
The Jets are coming off a 5-3 victory at Arizona Saturday. They rallied from 2-0 and 3-2 deficits against the Coyotes to snap their three-game winless streak.
"There's going to be some adversity in games or someone is going to play well, and they've got the talent to hurt you," Jets defenseman Brenden Dillon said. "But our group understands what makes us successful. We got to our game in the second period. This is something we can definitely build on."
The Jets got three goals from supporting cast winger Nino Niederreiter and two from Dillon in the victory. Interim coach Scott Arniel challenged his defensemen to get more involved offensively and Dillon responded with the first two-goal game of his career.
"I think for all six of our ‘D,' we are mobile guys who can get in and affect things offensively," Dillon said.
Dillon and defense partner Neal Pionk were a combined plus-5 against the Coyotes.
"It's nice to see sometimes when guys show you a different side of themselves, and every defenseman wants to be a goal-scorer," said Arniel, who is filling in while head coach Rick Bowness deals with his wife's medical issues.
"We actually talked about needing more from our back end, whether it's shots, assists. 'Dilly' took it one step further, and any time you can get that on the road, that's big."
--Field Level Media