It’s an interconference clash on the ice north of the border as a struggling team takes on one of the hottest squads in the league. The St. Louis Blues are on the road as they make the trip to face the Toronto Maple Leafs Tuesday night. St. Louis was beaten 5-2 at home by Minnesota in their previous contest Saturday night. Toronto was on the road Saturday night and rolled past the Avalanche by a 6-2 score in their most recent contest. In the last 10 meetings between the teams, the Blues own a 7-2-1 advantage but it was the Maple Leafs picking up a 5-4 overtime victory on the road in the first matchup this season on December 27, 2022.
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St. Louis lost for the fourth time in five games as they were trounced by Minnesota on home ice Saturday night. The Blues enter this game 17-17-3, leaving them fifth in the Central Division, 15 points behind the Stars for the division lead and seven back of the Wild for the final guaranteed playoff spot in the division. They were five points back of the Oilers for the second wild card spot. St. Louis is tied for 22nd in the league in goals for as they average 3.03 goals a contest this season. The Blues stand 26th in the league in goals against as they allow an average of 3.62 goals a night. St. Louis is tied for 16th in power play success as they cash in on 21.9% of their chances with the man advantage this season. The Blues are a dismal tied for 28th in penalty killing as they successfully navigate only 71.6% of their shorthanded situations this year.
Aga inst Minnesota, St. Louis was unable to slow down Minnesota’s attack, sending them to another loss. The Blues held a 12-10 edge in shots on goal in the opening period and skated to the dressing room even at one after 20 minutes of play. Calle Rosen opened the scoring with his fifth goal of the season at 5:41 off assists from Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou. They gave up the equalizer later in the stanza. In the second period, the Blues were outshot 14-5 and outscored 2-1 to trail 3-2 after two periods of play. After falling behind 2-1, Robert Bortuzzo scored his first of the year at 5:01 off assists from Pavel Buchnevich and Kyrou to knot the game. The Blues gave up the go-ahead goal just 12 seconds later. In the third period, St. Louis held a 14-8 edge in shots on goal but was outscored 2-0 to wind up with the loss. Jordan Binnington made 27 saves for the Blues, who were outshot 32-31, in the loss. He’s expected to get the start in goal for this contest. On Monday, the Blues placed Ryan O’Reilly and Vladimir Tarasenko on injured reserve, taking them out of the mix for the next four to six weeks.