Preview: Blues at Jets

[December 15, 2015]  The St. Louis Blues sit in a second-place tie in the Central Division, but seek consistency following a weekend in which they beat the division leader before falling to the last-place team. The Blues visit the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday after a disappointing 3-1 defeat Sunday against Colorado, a performance center Paul Stastny said just could not happen after St. Louis beat Dallas the night before.

“For us, it’s more about the way we started that game,” Stastny told reporters after the Blues fired 35 shots on goal in the final two periods, an effort coach Ken Hitchcock labeled “disappointing” given how well the Blues played against the Stars in Saturday’s 3-0 victory. The Jets need to play better within the division, coming into Tuesday with a 3-9-0 mark against Central foes. St. Louis has won the first two matchups of the season with Winnipeg, but the Jets hope having not played since Friday’s 2-0 defeat at Chicago will provide a spark. “We just have to find a way to buckle down and figure out a way to win some of those games,” defenseman Jacob Trouba told the team’s website Monday.

TV: 8 p.m. ET, FSN Midwest (St. Louis), TSN3 (Winnipeg)

ABOUT THE BLUES (17-10-4): Vladimir Tarasenko ranks third in the league in goals with 18 and leads the team with 29 points after tallying in Sunday’s loss. But as a team the Blues have struggled to put pucks past opposing goaltenders, averaging 30.5 shots per game (tied for seventh in the league) while scoring just 2.48 per contest (20th) entering Monday's games. St. Louis has been better on the road this season, going 8-4-2 away from home against a 9-6-2 mark on home ice after concluding a five-game homestand 2-3-0.

ABOUT THE JETS (14-14-2): Rookie goaltender Connor Hellebuyck suffered his first loss in five games Friday, recording 29 saves in making his first appearance in back-to-back games. Winnipeg’s offense has been hit or miss lately, scoring six goals twice (against Columbus and Toronto) but totaling just three goals in a pair of losses to Chicago and a win over Washington. The Jets’ 91 goals allowed is most among Central teams, including seven to the Blues in losing 4-2 and 3-2 in their earlier meetings.

OVERTIME

1. Winnipeg F Chris Thorburn’s next appearance will be his 594th with the franchise, tying Ilya Kovalchuk’s record.

2. The Blues lead the NHL in penalty killing (87.7 percent) after going eight straight games without allowing a power-play goal.

3. Trouba was paired with Dustin Byfuglien on defense for the second straight day at practice Monday.

PREDICTION: Jets 3, Blues 2

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