Preview: Blues at Jets

TEAM SNAPSHOTS

BLUES Brandon Saad scored 13 seconds into Sunday’s game – the fastest goal from the start of a game in the NHL this season – and Jordan Binnington made 23 saves, but it wasn’t enough as the Blues fell to the Anaheim Ducks, 4-1, at Honda Center.

With the loss, the Blues fell to 7-2-1 on the season, just short of matching their best 10-game start in franchise history, which was 8-1-1 in 2002-03.

“We could have done a lot of things better,” Blues Head Coach Craig Berube said after the game. “It seemed like we didn’t have a lot of emotion in the game. We had opportunities to score. We didn’t capitalize on some good opportunities.”

The Blues will look to rebound Tuesday in Winnipeg but will still be without Brayden Schenn (upper-body injury) and Torey Krug, Ville Husso, Kyle Clifford and Niko Mikkola, who are all on COVID-19 protocols.

Tuesday will be the fourth and final game of the road trip. St. Louis is 1-1-1 so far.

JETS The Winnipeg Jets failed to score on Saturday night in a 2-0 loss at home to the New York Islanders on Saturday.

The loss snapped an eight-game point streak for the Jets (6-0-2), their longest since the team relocated to Winnipeg. It was also their first home loss of the season at Canada Life Centre.

“(The Islanders’) success is controlling the net front and controlling the slot and not allowing a lot to happen,” Jets Head Coach Paul Maurice told reporters. “So you’re going to need to build some chaos, which comes from some movement and some of those pucks getting through and getting to the net and causing that chaos. We didn’t do a lot of it tonight.”

Both Mark Scheifele and Paul Stastny left Saturday’s game in the third period with undisclosed injuries. Their status for Tuesday’s matchup with the Blues is unknown.

The Jets (6-3-2, 14 points) sit just one point behind the Blues (7-2-1, 15 points) in the Central Division standings this season, but the Blues have a game in hand.

HEAD-TO-HEAD The Blues and Jets will meet Tuesday for the first time since Feb. 6, 2020. The Blues lost that game 4-2 at Enterprise Center but are 3-1-1 in their last five visits to Winnipeg.

The last time St. Louis played Winnipeg on the road, Alexander Steen was playing in his 1,000th NHL game (Feb. 1, 2020).

Jordan Binnington is 4-1-0 in five career starts against the Jets (regular season and postseason) with a 2.59 goals-against average and a .910 save-percentage.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

BLUES James Neal, who has posted 29 points (19 goals, 10 assists) and a plus-16 rating in 36 career games against Winnipeg.

JETS Kyle Connor, who leads the Jets in scoring this season with 16 points (eight goals, eight assists) in 11 games this season. As of Monday afternoon, the 24-year-old forward ranked fourth overall in the League in scoring.

BLUE NOTES

Craig Berube worked his 200th game behind the Blues bench on Sunday in Anaheim, becoming the eighth coach in Blues history to reach the milestone… David Perron will move past Bobby Plager for sole possession of 10th in games played (617) on Tuesday in Winnipeg. If Jake Neighbours plays against the Jets, it will be his ninth game of the season. The Blues will need to decide whether he will remain with the team or returns to juniors before he plays his 10th NHL game… Justin Faulk‘s next goal will be the 100th of his NHL career… The Blues’ 7-2-1 start shares their fourth-best mark in team history.