The Blues have vivid memories of the last time they faced the Senators, when St. Louis lost 8-1 in Ottawa on Oct. 29.
When the teams meet again Friday night in St. Louis, the Blues will seek payback.
Ottawa’s Tim Stutzle had two goals and two assists in the October matchup, while teammate Brady Tkachuk (who grew up in the St. Louis area) also scored twice. The result was one of several lopsided losses that eventually convinced Blues general manager Doug Armstrong to replace coach Drew Bannister with Jim Montgomery on Nov. 24.
The Blues, who are 9-5-3 under Montgomery, have won three of their past four games after a 1-3-2 slump.
“For our group right now, we’ve got to start pushing,” Montgomery said. “We’ve got a lot of games at home in January and February. If we want to make a run at the playoffs, our consistency and our belief in our identity has to start showing game-in and game-out.”
After defeating the Chicago Blackhawks 6-2 in the Winter Classic on New Year’s Eve at Wrigley Field, the Blues had extra time to prepare for back-to-back games against Ottawa on Friday and at Columbus on Saturday.
“Obviously everyone getting back to St. Louis and getting everyone’s families back home and then a good practice day today kind of resets you a little bit,” Blues forward Jake Neighbours said Thursday. “(The Winter Classic) was an emotional high and an amazing event, something we’re all excited and honored to be a part of. But it’s back to normal now, normal games and try and build off the win we had.”
The Blues have 19 goals in their past four games, getting more offensive help from the blue line. Cam Fowler, who came to St. Louis from the Anaheim Ducks in a mid-December trade, has three goals and three assists during that span.
Justin Faulk had a three-point game in Chicago, scoring his first goal in 35 games. He sat out practice on Thursday for a “maintenance day,” but there is a good chance he will play on Friday.
The Senators, meanwhile, went into their Christmas break coming off a four-game road trip. They embarked on a five-game trip coming out of the break. They haven’t played a home game since Dec. 14.
After rolling to a 9-3-1 mark in December, the Senators rang in their new year by falling 4-2 in Dallas on Thursday. The Stars outscored the Senators 3-0 from the middle of the second period on.
“Second half was embarrassing,” Tkachuk said. “Embarrassing hockey. Just unacceptable. … Thank God we play (Friday), move on from this one quicker. A lot of lessons to be learned from this game.”
Tkachuk had a goal and an assist, giving him four points in his past three games after he produced just four points in his previous nine games.
Defenseman Artem Zub returned to the Senators’ lineup on Thursday. He had been sidelined for more than five weeks with a broken foot.
“It’s great to have him back,” Senators coach Travis Green said. “You feel for a guy if he’s out, he’s injured. He’s a big part of our team.”
Ottawa goaltender Anton Forsberg dressed as a backup to Leevi Merilainen on Thursday after he was unavailable the previous seven games due to an undisclosed injury. Forsberg, who is 4-6-0 with a 2.95 goals-against average and an .889 save percentage, could be in line to face the Blues.
Ottawa netminder Linus Ullmark, who earned the victory over the Blues earlier this season, remains sidelined because of a back injury.
–Field Level Media
