Preview: Penguins at Blues

[February 04, 2017]  The St. Louis Blues' recent struggles at home have them scrambling for a wild-card spot in the Western Conference instead of battling for first place in the Central Division. But the club ended a four-game slide at Scottrade Center with Thursday's victory over Toronto and looks to make it two in a row when it concludes its three-game homestand Saturday against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

St. Louis, which is one point out of a wild-card spot, allowed the Maple Leafs to score the first goal before reeling off five in a row, with Paul Stastny netting two and setting up another to help make coach Mike Yeo a winner in his first game after replacing the fired Ken Hitchcock. Pittsburgh seeks its third straight victory after edging Columbus in overtime Friday to complete a sweep of a brief two-game homestand. Phil Kessel was the hero for the Penguins, scoring his second goal of the contest at 3:15 of the extra session to complete a three-point performance in the 800th game of his career. It was the second two-goal effort of the season for the 29-year-old as he became the third member of the team to reach the 50-point plateau, joining captain Sidney Crosby (56) and the injured Evgeni Malkin (54).

TV: 8 p.m. ET, ROOT (Pittsburgh), FSN Midwest (St. Louis)

ABOUT THE PENGUINS (32-13-5): Crosby failed to gain any ground on Edmonton's Connor McDavid (59 points) for the league scoring lead Friday as he was kept off the scoresheet for only the third time in eight games. The 29-year-old All-Star remains six points shy of becoming the 86th player in NHL history to register 1,000 in his career. Defenseman Trevor Daley also is closing in on a milestone after notching his 199th career assist in Friday's victory.

ABOUT THE BLUES (25-21-5): Team scoring leader Vladimir Tarasenko hit the 50-point mark by tallying against Toronto, which extended his goal-scoring streak to a season high-tying three games. Alex Steen scored his 10th goal of the season versus the Maple Leafs, becoming the eighth member of the Blues to reach double digits while moving past Brendan Shanahan for 10th place on the franchise list with 157. The 32-year-old has recorded 17 points over his last 16 overall games and 13 in his last eight home contests.

OVERTIME

1. Penguins RW Patric Hornqvist scored four goals during his three-game streak and five over his last five contests.

2. St. Louis could give Carter Hutton the start in net Saturday after the 31-year-old posted a 34-save shutout in Pittsburgh on Jan. 24.

3. Pittsburgh is 20-0-0 this season when leading after two periods.

PREDICTION: Blues 4, Penguins 3

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