Two teams struggling to score goals lock heads; Parayko, Suter getting acclimated

When the St. Louis Blues and New York Islanders drop the puck on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. (FDSNMW, ESPN 101.1-FM) at UBS Arena, in some ways there will be two teams that mirror each other.

And in a not-so-great way.

Heading into the matchup, each team is having its issues scoring goals.

The Islanders are 28th at 2.45 goals per game, the Blues are just below them at 29th at 2.43.

Power play percentage has a lot to do with it. St. Louis is 27h at 14.9 percent; New York is 31st at 12.1 percent.

No wonder the first game turned out to be a 1-0 Blues overtime win on Oct. 17 when Jake Neighbours scored.

"We're not producing a whole lot," Blues captain Brayden Schenn said. "And that's pretty much everyone on the roster. If you're going into games and scoring two, you've just got to keep on finding a way to play tight defensively, play hard, win your battles and at the end of the day, keep it simple. Go to the net, hopefully get some bounces and stuff like that."

"We've got to stick with it, build up your confidence internally and not just worry about goals and assists. It could be little details that could win you hockey games. We've got to find small victories that can build everyone's confidence back up here."

The Blues scored three or more goals in each of their first three games this season. In the 18 games since, they've scored two or fewer in 12 of them.

"Definitely we've had some good looks," Schenn said. "Every night we've hit some posts, we've had whatever else. We still feel like we could generate a little bit more and we've got to try and find a way to do that. We have had some looks, but at the same time, we've got to do a better job of holding onto the pucks, create offensive zone time and at the end of the day, that leads to us getting more power plays, which we haven't gotten a whole lot of those either.

"Little details in our game are going to help us build our game and that will result in guys getting rewarded for it."

Having Robert Thomas, who returned two games ago, back on the ice should help the process of generating more sustained offensive zone time and generating more power play looks.

Thomas, Pavel Buchnevich and Jordan Kyrou have a 61-35 Corsi-For, Corsi-Against.

"Oh yeah, he's a good player," Schenn said of Thomas. "He sees the ice well, he's able to draw people to him and defenders to him and that opens up his linemates and he's able o find guys. He's very good. He skates around when he has the puck, he has his head up, he knows where the other guys guys are.

"When he has the puck, he's able to slow the play down in his own head and see different things that probably a lot of guys in the league don't and he's able to find the open man and that's why he's such a good playmaker."

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Colton Parayko and Ryan Suter are getting to know each other quite well.

The veteran defensemen are fifth in the NHL in minutes played together (316:55), and although the numbers don't speak for it, it's been a much-needed duo on the blue line.

It's been a necessity since Nick Leddy (lower-body injury) has been out of the lineup since Oct. 15.

"I think we just try to keep it simple with each other," Parayko said. "Obviously playing against a lot of the other guys' (top lines) and a lot of minutes, you just want to make sure you keep it simple, talk through a lot of things. Obviously we haven't played together a ton throughout our career, just a few games. Just making sure we continue to help each other out, just a lot of communication. If we see something, just let each other know, just try to build each game and get better.

"We always know how good of a defender he was. He plays hard, he's tough to play against, moves the puck well, sees the ice well. Just being around for that long, obviously you read the game, you've seen pretty much every situation probably. Just a great defender and a smart player. Adds a lot of value."

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The Blues appear set to make a couple lineup changes tonight, with Oskar Sundqvist returning for presumably Zack Bolduc, although coach Drew Bannister would not say for who, but he did say Sundqvist will play with Alexey Toropchenko and Nathan Walker. So that presumably means Radek Faksa moves up to the third line with Dylan Holloway and Mathieu Joseph.

Also, from Friday's practice, Matthew Kessel was skating on the third defensive pair with Pierre-Olivier Joseph and looks like he comes in for Corey Schueneman.

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Blues Projected Lineup:

Pavel Buchnevich-Robert Thomas-Jordan Kyrou

Brandon Saad-Brayden Schenn-Jake Neighbours

Dylan Holloway-Radek Faksa-Mathieu Joseph

Alexey Toropchenko-Oskar Sundqvist-Nathan Walker

Ryan Suter-Colton Parayko

Scott Perunovich-Justin Faulk

Pierre-Olivier Joseph-Matthew Kessel

Jordan Binnington will start in goal; Joel Hofer will be the backup. 

Healthy scratches include Zack Bolduc, Alexandre Texier and Corey Schueneman. Nick Leddy (lower body) and Philip Broberg (knee) remain out.

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Islanders Projected Lineup:

Anders Lee-Bo Horvat-Jean-Gabriel Pageau

Maxim Tsyplakov-Brock Nelson-Kyle Palmieri

Pierre Engvall-Casey Cizikas-Simon Holmstrom

Matt Martin-Kyle MacLean-Oliver Wahlstrom

Alexander Romanov-Noah Dobson

Isaiah George-Ryan Pulock

Dennis Cholowski-Scott Mayfield

Ilya Sorokin will start in goal; Semyon Varlamov will be the backup.

Healthy scratches include Hudson Fasching and Grant Hutton. Anthony Duclair (lower body), Mathew Barzal (lower body), Adam Pelech (upper body) and Mike Reilly (heart procedure) are out.