Blues desperately need to regain scoring touch against Rangers
ST. LOUIS -- After a two-game span in which they scored 11 goals, the St. Louis Blues' scoring woes returned in a 4-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday night.
The Blues mustered one goal despite putting 45 shots on net. They missed the net 22 times, including an open net chance for Vladimir Tarasenko early in the third period, and had 15 more blocked.
"Before we were talking how we couldn't score, I don't think we were generating a whole lot of chances," Blues forward Brayden Schenn told NHL.com. "Tonight, I don't know how many we had. We did whatever we could, we threw them at the net, we got second chances, third chances, hit posts, just one of those nights it wasn't able to go in."
St. Louis needs to find its offense fast. The Blues (37-28-5, 79 points) sit five points behind both the Dallas Stars (38-26-7, 83 points) and Colorado (38-24-6, 82 points), the two teams that are tied for the first wild card.
"From a coaching standpoint, I think you have to appreciate that we continue to push and continue to find a way to get to the offensive zone, generate chances," Blues coach Mike Yeo told NHL.com. "It didn't go in unfortunately, but still I'd say looking at this game that we've continued where we were playing some good hockey, generating chances, controlling the play. If we continue to do that and find a way to get a little bit better in a few little areas, then we'll get a lot of wins."
With just 12 games to go, wins and points are at a premium.
"Lots of hockey left to be played," Schenn told NHL.com. "Obviously we're going to need some help but we'll do our part and get the wins. If we were playing like we were maybe two, three weeks ago, you look back and say we don't really have a chance, but the way we're playing now after the California trip, tonight we feel like we're going in the right direction."
The Blues hope to start getting those wins as they host the New York Rangers on Saturday night. St. Louis beat the Rangers 3-1 at New York on Oct. 10.
The Rangers are coming off a 4-3 overtime win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday.
Alexandar Georgiev will get his third straight start in goal. The 22-year-old is 3-2-0 with a 2.75 GAA and a .929 save percentage in six games with the Rangers.
"I want to find out about this young goaltender and that's why we decided to put him back in," Rangers coach Alain Vigneault told NHL.com.
Georgiev has won three straight games and made 37 saves against the Penguins, including a stop on an Evgeni Malkin penalty shot with 10 seconds left in regulation.
"Just wanted to be patient with him," Georgiev told NHL.com. "Wait for maybe his first, maybe his second, third move. Wait for his (move), not go down really early. I think I was patient with that."
