Preview: Blues vs. Predators

TEAM SNAPSHOTS

BLUES The St. Louis Blues return home for the first time since Oct. 30 after going 2-1-1 on a West coast road trip.

The trip finished with a thriller in Winnipeg on Tuesday night, a shootout win led by one of the best games of Jordan Binnington‘s career. Binnington made 39 saves over the course of the game and stopped all four of the Jets’ shootout attempts to seal the win.

“He really won that for us,” Jordan Kyrou said of Binnington’s impressive performance. “We all know what (he’s) capable of, and he always brings it. It’s definitely awesome to have him back there, it’s a relief.”

Kyrou recorded a goal and an assist in the win, including his first goal since netting two in a win at Arizona on Oct. 18.

After their long road trip, the Blues will now look to build momentum at home, with four of their next five games being played at Enterprise Center over the next week.

The Blues are 8-2-1 heading into Thursday’s game, good for first place in the Central Divison and tied for second in the Western Conference as of Wednesday afternoon.

PREDATORS The Nashville Predators will be on their second night of a back-to-back Thursday, coming off a 4-2 win on Wednesday night against the Dallas Stars. Thursday’s game in St. Louis will mark the end of the Predators’ six-game road trip, their longest of the season.

Nashville currently sits at 7-5-1, good for fourth place in the Central Division.

The Predators are currently without forward Filip Forsberg, who was recently placed on injured reserve with an upper-body injury. Forsberg is fifth on the team in points with four goals and three assists over nine games played this season.

This season is the Predators’ first without longtime goaltender Pekka Rinne, who announced his retirement this summer and holds the club’s goalie records for games played, wins and shutouts.

Juuse Saros has been the starter this year after sharing duties with Rinne last season, and is currently carrying a .925 save percentage and 2.31 goals-against average in his 10 starts.

HEAD-TO-HEAD Thursday night will mark the first game between the Blues and Predators since Feb. 16, 2020 – a 2-1 Predators win in Nashville.

The Blues were winless vs. the Predators in 2019-20, going 0-4 and being outscored 13-8.

The last Blues’ win against the Predators came on Feb. 26, 2019 by a score of 2-0 prior to the Blues’ run to the 2019 Stanley Cup.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

BLUES Pavel Buchnevich is starting to build up some steam after serving a two-game suspension just two games into his Blues tenure. Buchnevich has three points in his last three games, inclduing a goal and an assist Tuesday night at Winnipeg.

PREDATORS Roman Josi has played 40 career games against the Blues, the second-most of any team in the NHL. The Predators captain currently leads the team in assists, points and plus/minus this season.

BLUE NOTES

The Blues are 3-2-0 in their last five home games against Nashville… Vladimir Tarasenko has 30 points (14 goals, 16 assists) in 33 career regular-season games against the Predators… James Neal spent three seasons with the Predators, recording 77 goals in 219 regular-season games… Nashville’s Luke Kunin is a native of Chesterfield, MO and was drafted in the first round (No. 15 overall) by the Minnesota Wild in 2016.

SALUTE TO MILITARY

The Blues will honor the 13 U.S. service members who died at the Kabul Airport in Afghanistan in August by featuring their names on special military-themed warm-up jerseys on Thursday. The 13 jerseys featuring the names of the service members will be presented to their families, while another 13 jerseys will be available in an online raffle at blues.givesmart.com.

The family of Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz of Wentsville will drop the puck prior to Thursday’s game, marking the Blues’ first pregame ceremonial puck drop since the pandemic started in March 2020. Schmitz was one of the 13 service members killed in Afghanistan in August.

To learn more about the team’s Salute to Military Night, presented by Boeing, visit stlouisblues.com/military.