Preview: Maple Leafs at Blues

[February 02, 2017]     Less than nine months after advancing to the Western Conference finals last season, the St. Louis Blues pulled a shocker by dismissing veteran coach Ken Hitchcock on Wednesday. Mike Yeo, designated the coach-in-waiting for 2017-18, had his timetable pushed up and will be behind the bench when St. Louis hosts the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night.

Despite guiding the Blues to a playoff berth in each of his first seasons, Hitchcock was cut loose and remains one win shy of tying Al Arbour (782) for third place on the all-time list. "We don't lose with pride," St. Louis general manager Doug Armstrong said as a media brief. "I don't think that we've given our best effort, and, Ken, ultimately he's paying the price with all our failures, starting with mine." The Blues have dropped five of six and are battling for the second wild card in the Western Conference as they prepare for visit from the Maple Leafs, who were surprised to hear of Hitchcock's firing. "I don't believe he's going away to retire, I just don't believe that," Toronto coach Mike Babcock said. "Someone will be happy to have him."

TV: 9 p.m. ET, TSN4 (Toronto), FSN Midwest (St. Louis)

ABOUT THE MAPLE LEAFS (23-16-9): Toronto looks to regroup after suffering an early KO against Dallas in the third stop of its six-game road trip, giving up five first-period goals in a 6-3 setback. Rookie Mitch Marner was among the few bright spots, scoring one goal and setting up another to give him 12 points in his last 10 games. Marner, who took over the team lead with 41 points, was named the NHL Rookie of the Month for January with four goals and 11 assists in 13 games.

ABOUT THE BLUES (24-21-5): Yeo, who was fired by the Minnesota Wild last February, is planning to stick with netminder Jake Allen, who was yanked from three consecutive starts last month and is winless since Jan. 2. Allen said Hitchcock "did a great job for us" while defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk is hoping St. Louis can find a way to get a "fresh start" under Yeo. “This isn't just a coaching problem," Shattenkirk said. "This is something we have to fix in the locker room."

OVERTIME

1. Allen has surrendered seven goals in losing both career starts versus Toronto.

2. Maple Leafs rookie F Auston Matthews has scored 15 of his 23 goals in 25 road games.

3. St. Louis has surrendered seven power-play goals over the past six games.

PREDICTION: Blues 4, Maple Leafs 3

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