Well, here it is again for the St. Louis Blues.
A chance at a three-game winning streak on the table, something that hasn't occurred yet this season.
It will be the ninth time the Blues (27-26-6) will have the opportunity to string together three in a row but will have to do so against the top team in the Eastern Conference, the Washington Capitals (38-12-8), who happen to have the guy chasing history -- Alex Ovechkin -- trying to run down Wayne Gretzky's all-time record for most goals in NHL history (894). Ovechkin is 11 away from tying it and 12 from breaking it.
The puck drops at 6 p.m. (FDSNMW, ESPN 101.1-FM) from Capital One Arena.
The Blues are 2-0-1 since the 4 Nations Face-Off break, 3-0-1 their past four games and sit five points behind the Vancouver Canucks for the second wild card from the Western Conference. with 23 games remaining.
They finished off a stretch of three games in four nights by blasting the Seattle Kraken, 7-2, on Tuesday and begin another stretch of three in four beginning Thursday.
They did practice in full on Tuesday and held an optional morning skate Thursday to keep legs fresh.
"We just finished three in four and we're rolling right into three in four again with travel now," Blues coach Jim Montgomery said, "so you've got to be cognizant of what we're doing. What I did like is we were 22 minutes and 22 minutes was crisp, there was energy and we were really professional about the way we went about things."
Goalie Jordan Binnington and defenseman Colton Parayko each was given the day off Wednesday, but it is being planned that way after the duo competed for Canada at the 4 Nations.
"You come off a world-class tournament like they did and you win it, the emotions, preparing for it, before the games, the emotions during the games, and then the adrenaline and emotions after the games, they wear off," Montgomery said. "There's an emotional toll that I don't think a lot of people can comprehend that happens to your body. Mentally you just need more rest."
Joel Hofer will get the start against the Capitals, but other than that, Montgomery will keep the lineup the same as Tuesday and Sunday's 3-1 win against the Colorado Avalanche.
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The Blues could -- and should -- have some jump in their game playing for their captain, Brayden Schenn, who is playing in his 1,000th game tonight, joining brother Luke Schenn the only siblings to play in No. 1,000 in the same season after Luke played his 1,000th on Oct. 17 for the Nashville Predators.
They will become the eighth set of brothers to each play 1,000 games, joining the Geoff and Russ Courtnall, Derian and Kevin Hatcher, Mikko and Saku Koivu, Scott and Rob Niedermayer, Daniel and Henrik Sedin, Eric, Jordan and Marc Staal and Brent and Ron Sutter.
"It's one of those things you don't want to get ahead of yourself and talk about the day before it comes," Brayden Schenn said Wednesday. "Obviously just a huge honor and obviously lots of people involved to help me get here.
"As you go throughout your career there's so many ups and downs. You look back on your career and people think it's uphill all the way. You go through a lot on a day to day basis and you have to rely on a lot of people around you. That's just the reality of it and that's why you have good teammates, that's why you have good coaches and the support staff with your family and my wife and parents. If I can look back on one thing, you come in here and today's a new day and you pretty much have to go out there and win the day and focus on being positive just because it's a tough league."
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Blues Projected Lineup:
Jake Neighbours-Robert Thomas-Pavel Buchnevich
Dylan Holloway-Brayden Schenn-Jordan Kyrou
Mathieu Joseph-Oskar Sundqvist-Zack Bolduc
Alexey Toropchenko-Radek Faksa-Nathan Walker
Cam Fowler-Colton Parayko
Philip Broberg-Justin Faulk
Ryan Suter-Nick Leddy
Joel Hofer will start in goal; Jordan Binnington will be the backup.
Healthy scratches include Tyler Tucker and Alexandre Texier. Torey Krug (ankle) is out for the season.
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Capitals Projected Lineup:
Alex Ovechkin-Dylan Strome-Aliaksei Protas
Connor McMichael-Pierre-Luc Dubois-Tom Wilson
Andrew Mangiapane-Lars Eller-Ethen Frank
Brandon Duhaime-Nic Dowd-Taylor Raddysh
Rasmus Sandin-John Carlson
Jakob Chychrun-Trevor van Riemsdyk
Martin Fehervary-Matt Roy
Charlie Lindgren will start in goal; Logan Thompson will be the backup.
Healhy scratches include Dylan McIlrath, Alexander Alexeyev and Jakub Vrana. Sonny Milano (upper body) is out.