Blues look to maintain road success vs. Blackhawks (Mar 17, 2018)
CHICAGO -- The St. Louis Blues will try to maintain their recent success in their division rival's building when they visit the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday night at the United Center.
St. Louis (38-28-5) has earned at least one point in six of its previous eight visits to Chicago. The Blues will play the Blackhawks three times in their final 11 games of the regular season.
Blues coach Mike Yeo knows that his players need to be sharp for any chance at making the postseason. Yeo's team is coming off a 4-3 overtime victory against the New York Rangers on Saturday night, but remains on the outside looking in when it comes to the Western Conference playoff race.
"I still feel confident, yeah," Yeo said earlier this week to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "We're showing that we've got fight in our room right now. I know you don't get points for (playing hard), but what it does, it gives me confidence that this is a group that's going to be ready to respond."
St. Louis, which won Saturday on a Brayden Schenn goal, might have to do so without star forward Vladimir Tarasenko, who was forced to leave Saturday's game because of an upper-body injury. The 26-year-old has 58 points (27 goals, 31 assists) in 71 games this season.
Meanwhile, Chicago (30-34-8) is playing for pride with 10 games to go in a lost season.
The Blackhawks are in last place in the Western Conference's Central Division and have dropped four of their past five games after absorbing a 5-3 loss at Buffalo on Saturday.
The Blackhawks have struggled to find consistent success in net during the extended absence of top goaltender Corey Crawford, who has been sidelined since late-December by an undisclosed upper-body injury. Backup options Anton Forsberg and Jean-Francois Berube have split the workload as of late.
Forsberg, 25, is 9-15-3 with a 3.04 goals-against average and a .905 save percentage in his first season in Chicago. The native of Sweden has yet to face the Blues in his career.
Berube, 26, is 2-4-0 with a 3.55 goals-against average and a .900 save percentage. He opposed the Blues once in a relief role, stopping all six shots he faced in 17:53 of fill-in duty.
"It's not an easy job for the other guys to come in and expect to be (Crawford), but we still think we had stretches when our goaltending hasn't been a problem," Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said to the Chicago Tribune. "Right now, it could be a little better, but we're not complaining."
The Blues could turn to Jake Allen in net for the second time in as many days after he stopped 17 shots against the Rangers. Allen is 7-4-1 with a 2.29 GAA and .924 save percentage in 12 career games against the Blackhawks.
If Yeo chooses to rest Allen, goaltender Ville Husso could make his NHL debut. The Blues promoted Husso from San Antonio of the AHL last week. The 23-year-old boasted a .927 save percentage in the minors.
The Blackhawks are 17-15-3 at home this season. The Blues are 17-13-5 on the road.
