The St. Louis Blues will look to continue to be road warriors when they close out a three-game trip on Tuesday against the likely Morgan Rielly-less Toronto Maple Leafs (26-16-8) at Scotiabank Arena (6 p.m.; BSMW, ESPN 101-1.FM). Morning skate report vs. Maple Leafs (2-13-24) The Blues (28-21-2), who are a season-high seven games over .500, will be looking for their sixth straight win on the road after coming out of the All-Star break with wins against the Buffalo Sabres (3-1) on Saturday and Montreal Canadiens (7-2) on Sunday. They are also 7-1-0 in their past eight games to put them into a tie for the first wild card in the Western Conference with the Los Angeles Kings with 58 points (the Kings have a game in hand). The Blues are coming off matching their second-best offensive output of the season when they put up seven against the Canadiens, matching their most recent high of seven against the Chicago Blackhawks in a 7-5 win Dec. 23. Their season-high is eight goals in an 8-2 win against the Colorado Avalanche on Nov. 11. It's been a rather workman-like stretch of games, aside from the 1-0 clunker against the Columbus Blue Jackets before the break, for the Blues, who have outscored their opposition 22-12 in winning the past five road games and moving a game over .500 (13-12-1) for the first time this season. The lineup isn't expected to change, but the Blues did not hold a morning skate, and interim coach Drew Bannister will speak at 4 p.m. (CT) prior to puck drop. The Blues arenot expected to face Rielly, with the Leafs' top defenseman having what was supposed to be an in-person hearing from the league's Department of Player Safety for the following cross-checking incident at the end of a 5-3 loss against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday: The in-person hearing is going to be virtual with a snowstorm hitting the New York metropolitan area on Tuesday, as of this writing (which will be updated), it is not yet known how many games Rielly will receive for a suspension. The Maple Leafs visit St. Louis on Monday, so depending on how many games Rielly gets, the Blues may avoid him entirely this season. - - - Some stats: * Blues captain Brayden Schenn, after going without a point in a career-most 12 straight games, is a point-per-game player the past 13 with five goals, eight assists and has a point in 11 of the past 13. * Blues center Robert Thomas has 13 points (two goals, 11 assists) the past eight games. * Blues forward Jordan Kyrou has three goals the past two games, four in the past three and has 13 points (eight goals, five assists) the past 12 games that started with a hat trick Jan. 11 against the New York Rangers. * Blues defenseman Torey Krug set a Blues franchise record for most assists (five) and points (five) in a game on Sunday while also establishing a personal career high. * Blues forward Jake Neighbours has three goals and four points the past two games. * Blues forward Pavel Buchnevich has seven points (four goals, three assists) the past six games. * Blues goalie Jordan Binnington is 7-2-1 with a 2.09 goals-against average and .930 save percentage since Jan. 4. * Since Jan. 20 when they started their 7-1-0 run, the Blues have the most wins in the NHL, are tied with the Tampa Bay Lightning for second-most goals per game at 3.63 (Dallas, 3.88), they're third in goals against (2.00), they're second in power play efficiency at 37.5 percent (Florida, 41.7), and they're sixth in penalty kill efficiency at 90.0 percent. - - - The Blues' projected lineup: Pavel Buchnevich-Robert Thomas-Jordan Kyrou Jake Neighbours-Brayden Schenn-Kasperi Kapanen Brandon Saad -Kevin Hayes-Sammy Blais Alexey Toropchenko-Oskar Sundqvist-Nathan Walker Nick Leddy-Colton Parayko Torey Krug-Matthew Kessel Marco Scandella-Calle Rosen Jordan Binnington is projected to start in goal; Joel Hofer would be the backup. Healthy scratches include Nikita Alexandrov and Tyler Tucker. Justin Faulk (lower body) and Scott Perunovich (lower body). - - - The Maple Leafs' projected lineup: Matthew Knies-Auston Matthews-Mitchell Marner Tyler Bertuzzi-John Tavares-William Nylander Noah Gregor-Max Domi-Nicholas Robertson Pontus Holmberg-David Kampf-Ryan Reaves TJ Brodie-Timothy Liljegren Simon Benoit-Jake McCabe William Lagesson-Mark Giordano Ilya Samsonov will start in goal; Dennis Hildeby will be the backup. The healthy scratches could include Max Lajoie and Bobby McCann. Joseph Woll (lower body), Calle Jarnkrok (knuckle), Martin Jones (undisclosed) and Conor Timmins (mono) are out. Morgan Rielly likely begins serving a suspension tonight. Image [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjAxOTA3NzAwODA2NzIyNzE5/thn_archive_main_hero_v3_1600x900.jpg]
