When: Tuesday, Nov. 19 at 7 p.m. CT
Where: Enterprise Center in St. Louis, MO
Watch: ESPN+, Hulu
Listen: 101 ESPN, Blues App
Tickets: Online at Ticketmaster.com
QUICK HITS
BLUES The St. Louis Blues (8-10-1) will return home for a two-game homestand on Tuesday to face division rival the Minnesota Wild after wrapping up their three-game road trip 1-1-1.
The Blues ended their road trip on the second half of a back-to-back on Sunday against the Carolina Hurricanes. Although the team fell 4-1, forward Dylan Holloway said he was pleased with his team’s determination.
“Overall, I didn’t hate our effort,” Holloway said. “…it didn’t feel like a 4-1 game to me but sometimes your effort doesn’t show I guess in the score.”
Jake Neighbours buried one into the back of the net for his fifth goal of the season, tying Jordan Kyrou and Pavel Buchnevich for the team lead. Despite outshooting the Hurricanes in the game, the Blues surrendered four unanswered goals in the loss.
Even though the team was unable to depart Carolina with a win, Holloway and the Blues return to St. Louis with three standings points and some positive takeaways.
“I think we’re playing to our identity a little bit more, and I think we’ve just got to realize that we can hang with these teams,” Holloway said. “We are a bit injured right now, but that’s no excuse. We’ve got to step up and we can step up, so I think we’re starting to realize that and we’re playing more of a team game and more to our identity.”
This will be the second time this season the Blues face the Wild. Minnesota took the opening game 4-1 on Oct. 15.
WILD The Minnesota Wild (11-3-3) are coming to St. Louis after losing to the Dallas Stars on Sunday, 2-1.
The Wild gave up two goals to Dallas’ Mason Marchment in the first and third periods. They got on the board late in the game with a goal from Kirill Kaprizov, his 11th of the season, but they couldn’t find the equalizer in the final minutes.
After a hard-fought battle against the Stars, Wild Head Coach John Hynes said he learned a lot from his team tonight.
“I liked their battle to compete,” Hynes told the team’s website. “I liked the mentality we played with. We didn’t get the end result but, like I told our team, I think coming into the year, we know we want to play our best against good teams. I thought that our structure and discipline were good tonight.”
With the team facing some injury questions, the Wild recalled forwards Ben Jones and Devin Shore on Sunday. Forward Joel Eriksson Ek and defenseman Jonas Brodin are both day-to-day, but are possibilities to play vs. St. Louis, according to Hynes.
Forward Mats Zuccarello, who is third on the team in points with 14 (six goals, eight assists), underwent surgery last week after suffering a lower-body injury and will be out for three to four weeks.
Since the two teams last played on Oct. 15, the Wild have gone 9-2-1. They rank second in the Central Division of the Western Conference.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
BLUES Forward Jake Neighbours scored his fifth goal of the season on Sunday, his eighth point this year. His five goals share first on the team with Pavel Buchnevich and Jordan Kyrou. Neighbours is looking to become the fifth Blue to record multiple 25+ goal seasons before his 23rd birthday on March 29.
WILD Forward Kirill Kaprizov is having a standout season so far. In 17 games, he leads the team in goals (11), assists (20) and points (31). His 31 points ranks second in the league, trailing only Colorado Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon (33). In his fifth season in the league, he has accumulated 361 points (171 goals, 190 assists) in 295 games.
BLUE NOTES
- The Blues went 3-1-0 against Minnesota last season (2-0-0 at home; 1-1-0 on the road). In their last 12 home games against Minnesota, the Blues are 9-3-0.
- The Blues have six comeback wins this season, which shares third in the NHL (1. Winnipeg/Vegas, 7). The Blues are just one of two teams in the NHL to have a comeback win when trailing by three-plus goals in the third period (Oct. 10 at San Jose).
- Jordan Kyrou recorded his 11th assist of the season on Sunday at Carolina. Kyrou has recorded a point in seven of his last eight games (three goals, four assists) and has 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in his last 13 games.
