By Anthony Giornalista
Stats Senior Writer
St. Louis (38-31-10) at Phoenix (34-38-7),
GLENDALE, Arizona (AP) -- Poor play against lowly Phoenix
Coyotes teams has hurt St. Louis' playoff chances in recent
years. The Blues have had little trouble in this season's
series.
The surging Blues, in the hunt for the final postseason spot in
the Western Conference, look to sweep the Coyotes for the first
time in their history Tuesday night.
A 5-4 overtime loss to Dallas on Saturday night pushed St.
Louis' point total to 86, putting it in a tie with Nashville for
eighth place in the West. Both teams have three games remaining,
but the Predators hold the tiebreaker over the Blues (38-31-10)
with one more victory.
Nashville hosts Chicago on Tuesday.
St. Louis will face Columbus at home Friday night before
traveling to Colorado on Sunday for its regular-season finale.
"It's almost a Game 7 situation every game we play right now,"
Blues center Keith Tkachuk said.
St. Louis is trying to make the postseason for the first time
since 2004, a drought due in part to its poor play versus
Phoenix (34-38-7). In the three seasons prior to 2008-09, the
Blues went 2-8-2 against Coyotes clubs that never finished with
more than 83 points.
This season, St. Louis is 3-0-0 versus Phoenix, giving it a
chance for its first series sweep of a franchise that entered
the league as the Winnipeg Jets in 1979.
The Blues, concluding a five-game road trip, are 6-1-1 since
losing two straight.
St. Louis coach Andy Murray, though, is concerned with his
team's defensive play, as the Blues have allowed nine goals in
the last two games. Against the Stars, they gave up five goals
for the first time since a 5-2 loss to Detroit on March 14.
"When you score four goals on the road you should come away with
two points," Murray said. "Overall our attention to defensive
detail wasn't what we needed it to be."
St. Louis' David Backes remained hot, scoring his 31st goal
after getting four in a 5-4 win over the Red Wings on Thursday
night. The third-year forward has six goals and one assist
during the Blues' current trip.
He should have a good chance to continue his strong play against
the Coyotes, who are coming off one of their worst defensive
games of the season.
Phoenix fell 6-1 to Los Angeles on Saturday night, ending its
three-game winning streak.
The loss was the first for rookie goaltender Al Montoya, who
beat Colorado 3-0 on Wednesday night in his NHL debut and
defeated the Kings 2-1 the following evening. Montoya, 24, was
the sixth overall pick in the 2004 draft.
He got little help from his teammates offensively Saturday.
Shane Doan scored the only goal for Phoenix, giving him a
career-high 31 on the season. The veteran winger's previous high
was 30 in 2005-06.
"You always want to be trying to get better and improve, and
obviously I had never gotten 31 before so it's good to get that
one," Doan said. "... I would definitely take 21 goals (instead)
and be in the playoffs than 31 and out."