Well, here we are again.
The St. Louis Blues are three games over .500 -- thanks to their 4-3 come-from-behind win against the Calgary Flames on Tuesday, overcoming a 3-1 deficit late in the second period when they scored twice in the third to win for just the second time in 20 games (2-18-0) when trailing after two.
Three games over .500 for the 10th time this season, 13th time since the start of last season. Will it be Lucky No. 13 this time when the Blues (23-20-2) face the NHL's best, the Vancouver Canucks (32-11-4) at Rogers Arena today at 9 p.m. (BSMW, ESPN 101.1-FM) in trying to get to that ever-elusive four games over .500 marker?
Since the start of last season, the Blues are 0-11-1 in the first 12 situations when playing a game three games over .500, including 0-8-1 this season. The only time they didn't lose in regulation was Jan. 13 in a 4-3 overtime loss against the Boston Bruins. But nevertheless, the last time the Blues won a game when they were at least three games over .500 was April 24, 2022, Game No. 80 at the time against the Anaheim Ducks that made them 49-20-11 at the time. They've played 129 regular-season games and 12 Stanley Cup playoff games since then.
Here are the scenarios from this season and ensuing result:
* 8-5-1 at San Jose, lost 5-1
* 10-7-1 vs. Nashville, lost 8-3
* 11-8-1 at Minnesota, lost 3-1
* 12-9-1 at Arizona, lost 4-1
* 13-10-1 vs. Vegas, lost 6-3
* 18-15-1 vs. Colorado, lost 2-1
* 20-17-1 vs. Florida, lost 5-1
* 21-18-1 vs. Boston, lost 4-3 (OT)
* 21-18-2 vs. Philadelphia, lost 4-2
But it won't come easy tonight either now at 23-20-2.
The Canucks are on another heater and lead the NHL with 68 points, and they are 8-0-1 the past nine games since their last regulation loss ... against the Blues, 2-1, in St. Louis on Jan. 4.
So you know the Canucks, who are coming off a 2-0 home win against the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday, will have that on their minds heading into this one.
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The Blues did not hold a morning skate, but it's projected that Joel Hofer will get the start after Jordan Binnington made 32 saves on Tuesday.
The Blues did make an in-game tweak to the defensive corps in the third period by flipping Justin Faulk and Matthew Kessel to have Kessel playing with Torey Krug and Faulk paired with Marco Scandella, so we'll assume they start the game as such tonight, or that could have been an adjustment just to try and win a game last night.
Scandella had another nice game, so we don't see a scenario for Scott Perunovich to come back in, and Kessel isn't coming out of the lineup any time soon, and it's tough to see a scenario where Adam Gaudette, a healthy scratch last night, come in tonight, but Drew Bannister could maybe put Gaudette in for some fresher legs.
* UPDATE -- Perunovich will return after missing the past two games and replace Faulk, who the team reports is taking a maintenance day, likely something to do with the lower-body injury that recently kept Faulk out of the lineup for five games.
Also, the forward lineup will remain the same, Bannister told reporters.
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The Blues' projected lineup:
Pavel Buchnevich-Robert Thomas-Jordan Kyrou
Brandon Saad-Brayden Schenn-Jake Neighbours
Nathan Walker-Kevin Hayes-Alexey Toropchenko
Nikita Alexandrov-Oskar Sundqvist-Sammy Blais
Nick Leddy-Colton Parayko
Torey Krug-Matthew Kessel
Marco Scandella-Scott Perunovich
Joel Hofer will start in goal; Jordan Binnington will be the backup.
The healthy scratch includes Adam Gaudette. Justin Faulk (maintenance) and Kasperi Kapanen (lower body) are out.
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The Canucks' projected lineup:
Elias Pettersson-J.T. Miller-Brock Boeser
Ilya Mikheyev-Pius Suter-Andrei Kuzmenko
Dakota Joshua-Teddy Blueger-Conor Garland
Nils Hoglander-Nils Aman-Sam Lafferty
Quinn Hughes-Filip Hronek
Nikita Zadorov-Tyler Myers
Ian Cole-Noah Juulsen
Casey DeSmith will start in goal; Thatcher Demko will be the backup.
Healthy scratches include Linus Karlsson and Mark Friedman. Carson Soucy (hand), Phillip Di Giuseppe (lower body) and Guillaume Brisebois (concussion) are out.
