Preview: Blues at Senators

[March 01, 2016]  After remaining quiet at the NHL's trade deadline, the St. Louis Blues hope to make noise when they continue their four-game road trip against the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday. St. Louis recorded its fifth road win in six outings and improved to 1-1-0 on its current trek with a 5-2 victory in Carolina on Sunday.

The Blues remain in the thick of it with Central Division powers Chicago and Dallas, although the latter two clubs were quite active prior to the deadline. With St. Louis looking to make a charge in the division, Ottawa has won five of six as it attempts to get back in the postseason picture. Bobby Ryan's scoring troubles continued as he was held off the scoresheet for the eighth time in 10 outings in the Senators' 6-4 win over Calgary on Saturday. Ryan has torched the Blues, however, scoring his second goal of the contest in overtime in Ottawa's 3-2 win on Jan. 4 to extend his point total to 30 (17 goals, 13 assists) in 23 career outings versus St. Louis.

TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, FSN Midwest (St. Louis), RDS, WPCW (Ottawa)

ABOUT THE BLUES (36-20-9): St. Louis general manager Doug Armstrong was aware his options were limited at the trade deadline, so much so that he was quick to tell others that he wasn't interested in wasting their time. "I think for our situation, I've been pretty up front with the (general managers) I've talked to over the last couple of weeks about what our dynamics are and where we are as far as the cap," Armstrong told TSN. Captain David Backes, who has been part of St. Louis' plans for 10 seasons, has three goals and an assist in his last five games.

ABOUT THE SENATORS (30-27-6): Ottawa parted ways with a pair of defensemen on Monday, highlighted by shuffling Shane Prince and a seventh-round pick in the upcoming draft to the New York Islanders for a third-round selection in 2016. The Senators also shipped Conor Allen to Minnesota for forward Michael Keranen, who collected eight goals and 15 assists in 45 games this season with Iowa of the American Hockey League. Speaking of the AHL, Ottawa recalled forward Matt Puempel from Binghamton on Monday.

OVERTIME

1. St. Louis is 0-for-3 on the power play in the last two games after scoring 11 goals with the man advantage in the previous nine contests.

2. Ottawa C Mika Zibanejad recorded a natural hat trick on Saturday to match his point total from his previous eight games.

3. With Ryan Reaves returning from suspension, St. Louis assigned fellow RW Ty Rattie to Chicago of the American Hockey League on Monday.

PREDICTION: Blues 3, Senators 1

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