The St. Louis Blues welcome the Carolina Hurricanes in a key NHL matchup on Friday night, April 12, at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis.
Game time is 8 p.m. EDT and will air on ESPN+.
The Blues (42-32-5, fifth in the Central Division) are desperate for points. With 89, they sit three behind Vegas in the race for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference. Only two wild-card teams qualify for the playoffs in both conferences.
Carolina (50-22-7, second in the Metropolitan Division) knows it’s headed to the playoffs and is just playing for seeing at this point. The Hurricanes have 107 points, only three points behind the first-place New York Rangers in the Metropolitan Division.
Here’s a breakdown of the game:
BOTTOM LINE: St. Louis is 24-13-2 at home and 42-32-5 overall. The Blues have a 12-3-4 record in games decided by one goal.
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Carolina has gone 23-12-3 on the road and 50-22-7 overall. The Hurricanes have gone 46-6-3 in games they score at least three goals.
The teams meet Friday for the second time this season. The Blues won the previous meeting 2-1 in a shootout. Kyrou scored two goals in the win.
LAST GAME, HURRICANES: Andrei Svechnikov opened the scoring with a lacrosse-style goal and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Boston Bruins 4-1. Svechnikov, who also had an assist, surprised goalie Jeremy Swayman by cradling the puck with his stick blade and flicking it into the net about midway through the second period on Tuesday night. It was his 19th goal of the season. Teuvo Teravainen, Jake Guentzel and Seth Jarvis also scored as the Hurricanes pulled away for their third straight win and fifth in their last six.
LAST GAME, BLUES: Jordan Kyrou scored twice, Robert Thomas had a goal and an assist, and the St. Louis Blues beat the Chicago Blackhawks 5-2 on Wednesday night. Zack Bolduc had a goal and an assist, Torey Krug also scored and Brayden Schenn had two assists for St. Louis. Joel Hofer made 18 saves as the Blues improved to 8-1-1 in their last 10 home games against the Blackhawks.
TOP PERFORMERS: Kyrou has 29 goals and 36 assists for the Blues. Brandon Saad has six goals and three assists over the past 10 games.
Jake Guentzel has scored 28 goals with 46 assists for the Hurricanes. Sebastian Aho has eight goals and four assists over the last 10 games.
St. Louis Blues' Nikita Alexandrov (59) controls the puck as Chicago Blackhawks' Alex Vlasic (72) defends during the second period of an NHL hockey game Wednesday, April 10, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Scott Kane)AP
LAST 10 GAMES: Blues: 6-2-2, averaging 3.4 goals, 5.9 assists, 3.9 penalties and 10.1 penalty minutes while giving up three goals per game.
Hurricanes: 7-2-1, averaging 3.1 goals, 5.2 assists, 3.2 penalties and 7.4 penalty minutes while giving up 1.7 goals per game.
INJURIES: Blues: Oskar Sundqvist: out for season (acl), Jake Neighbours: day to day (upper-body), Justin Faulk: out for season (upper-body), Torey Krug: day to day (undisclosed).
Hurricanes: None listed.
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
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