BLUES The St. Louis Blues played a competitive game with the NHL’s best team this season, falling in a shootout to the Bruins as Boston took their 60th win of the season. The 4-3 loss officially eliminated the Blues from playoff contention.
Down 3-0 late in the second period, Jordan Kyrou scored the first of his two goals to get the Blues on the board. After Torey Krug made it a one-goal game against his former club in the third, Kyrou delivered again – tying the game with 25 seconds to go in regulation.
“Anytime you tie the game up late against one of the best teams in the League, we definitely get a big energy boost from that,” said Kyrou.
Kyrou is up to five goals in his last five games, building on his career-best total with his eyes on a 40-goal campaign. Kyrou is four points shy of his career high 75 from last year, though has improved his goal total by nine with five games left in the season.
The Blues continue a three-game homestand on Tuesday night, hosting the Flyers before reuniting with Vladimir Tarasenko and Niko Mikkola when the New York Rangers visit on Thursday.
Goaltender Vadim Zherenko was recalled from Springfield under emergency conditions on Monday, and would be making his NHL debut if he gets a start.
The Blues will play the Flyers with a record of 35-35-7, worth 77 points and sixth in the Central Division.
FLYERS The Philadlepha Flyers will be looking for greater consistency when they visit the Blues on Tuesday night, losing three in a row after winning four in a row as they make the trip to St. Louis.
The win streak was part of a 5-1-1 homestand at Wells Fargo Center, their best stretch since going 6-1-0 around the New Year.
After a front office change that saw Daniel Briere replace Chuck Fletcher as General Manager, the Flyers made multiple selling moves at the Trade Deadline while also bringing in forward Brendan Lemieux from the Los Angeles Kings.
Philadelphia is coming off a 4-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday, seeing two goals in the third period but failing to complete the comeback in Kris Letang’s 1,000th NHL game.
Carter Hart has been the starter in net for the Flyers but has not played since March 25 while dealing with a lower-body injury. Hart had won his last four starts and is now three wins shy of his career-high of 24 from the 2019-20 season.
After Tuesday’s matchup in St. Louis, the Flyers are off to Dallas and Long Island as they continue a four-game road trip nearing the end of their season.
They’ll face the Blues with a record of 29-34-13, worth 71 points and seventh in the Metropolitan Division.
HEAD-TO-HEAD The Blues are 5-4-1 in their last 10 games against Philadelphia, including a 5-1 loss at Wells Fargo Center earlier this year.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
BLUES Jordan Kyrou, whose 36 goals this season are the most by any Blues skater since the 2016-17 season. Kyrou has 10 goals in his last 14 games, No. 3 in the NHL since March 9.
FLYERS Travis Konecny, leading the Flyers with 29 goals and 56 points this season. Konecny has an active five-game point streak heading into Tuesday’s matchup and tallied a goal and an assist vs. the Blues earlier this year.
BLUE NOTES
Tuesday’s game will celebrate Pride Night at Enterprise Center, with proceeds benefitting LGBTQIA+ organizations such as Pride STL and the You Can Play Project… Sammy Blais is expected to dress in his 200th career NHL game against the Flyers… The Blues have not allowed a power-play goal to Philadelphia in five of their last six matchups, going 13-for-14 (92.9 percent) on the penalty kill over that span… Brayden Schenn‘s three assists on Sunday brought his season total to 41, sharing No. 2 on the team and trailing his career high for a season by a single assist. Schenn’s 62 points this year marks the second highest point total of his 14-year NHL career.
