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 "I don't know why we want to get cute," St. Louis center David
Backes said after his team mustered just one goal for the third
straight time in its three-game losing skid. The sight of the
Coyotes could light a fire under Backes, who scored five times in
the Blues' three-game season sweep in 2014-15 - highlighted by a
four-goal performance in a 6-0 win on Jan. 6. While St. Louis has
dropped eight of its last 12 (4-5-3), Arizona has scored just nine
goals en route to losing the first four contests on its five-game
road trip. Tobias Rieder, who will play in his 100th career contest
on Tuesday, scored in Sunday's 5-4 setback to Carolina for his first
goal since Nov. 5.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, FSN Arizona, FSN Midwest (St. Louis)
ABOUT THE COYOTES (13-13-1): Coach Dave Tippett spread around the
blame after watching his club's latest less-than-stellar
performance. "We need better goaltending if we're going to be
competitive and we've got to take a lot of the mistakes out of our
game," Tippett said. "Poor mistakes and turnovers and bad penalties.
Our goaltenders haven't cleaned up a lot of messes for us." Mike
Smith yielded 11 goals on the first three games of the trek before
sitting out Sunday's loss to the Hurricanes, but has dropped 10 of
14 career decisions to St. Louis with a gaudy 3.51 goals-against
average.
ABOUT THE BLUES (15-8-4): Coach Ken Hitchcock is juggling his lines
once again, with Magnus Paajarvi shuffled to play with Vladimir
Tarasenko and Paul Stastny on the top line. "He's got to look at
this as a chance of a lifetime and hopefully he takes advantage of
it," Hitchcock said of Paajarvi. Defenseman Petteri Lindbohm, who
was recalled from Chicago of the American Hockey League on Sunday,
is expected to make his season debut.
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OVERTIME
1. Arizona captain Shane Doan (lower body) will skate on Tuesday
before determining if he'll return from a seven-game absence.
2. Blues G Jake Allen, who will get the start on Tuesday, is 4-0-0
with a 1.25 goals-against average versus the Coyotes.
3. Veteran Zbynek Michalek will play in his 565th career game with
the Coyotes, moving him past Randy Carlyle for second-most by a
defenseman in Arizona-Phoenix/Winnipeg Jets franchise history.
PREDICTION: Blues 2, Coyotes 1
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