Stars 4 - 3 Blues
Final
  for this game

Blues host Stars, try to halt longest slide of season

Dec 27, 2014 - 4:29 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The St. Louis Blues hope to halt their longest losing streak of the season on Saturday when they return from the NHL's Christmas break to host the Dallas Stars at Scottrade Center.

With consecutive losses in Los Angeles and San Jose, the Blues tied their longest skid of the season. St. Louis then lost the finale of a three-game road trip, 5-0, at Colorado to give Ken Hitchcock's club its longest skid since going 0-6 over the final six games of the 2013-14 regular season.

The slide comes directly on the heels of a five-game winning streak from Dec. 16.

The losing streak has dropped St. Louis into third place in the Central Division, where it sits one point behind the Nashville Predators. The Blues also are only two points in front of Winnipeg for the division's third and final automatic playoff berth.

St. Louis earned its only point of the recent trip with Saturday's 3-2 overtime setback against the Sharks, but the Blues ended the swing with a blowout loss to the Avalanche.

The Blues were outshot by a 41-26 margin in Tuesday's rout at the Pepsi Center. Jake Allen gave up five goals on 31 shots over two periods for the Blues before being pulled in favor of Martin Brodeur, who made 10 saves in the scoreless third.

"They beat us tonight," said Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk. "They flat- out beat us."

Tuesday's loss marked the largest margin of defeat for the Blues this season. It also was St. Louis' first time being shut out since a 2-0 defeat in Boston on Nov. 18.

The Blues hope to rebound tonight by posting a fifth straight win on home ice. St. Louis is 12-3-1 in the Gateway City and hasn't lost at Scottrade since a 3-2 shootout loss to Ottawa on Nov. 25.

St. Louis hasn't lost in regulation at home since Nov. 8 against Nashville and the Blues own a 7-0-1 record as the host since that loss to the Predators.

Dallas also will try to put a lopsided loss behind it tonight after having a season-high four-game winning streak snapped with Tuesday's 4-0 home loss against Toronto.

The Stars outshot the Maple Leafs by a 43-26 margin but couldn't get one past Jonathan Bernier. Dallas also failed to score despite having four chances with the man advantage.

"Our special teams weren't good enough," said Stars coach Lindy Ruff. "We had a couple opportunities where we got a little stagnant on the power play, and not enough pucks went to the net."

Kari Lehtonen took the loss for Dallas after stopping 22-of-25 shots.

Tonight's test is the second of five scheduled meetings between the Blue and Stars. St. Louis won the season series opener in Dallas on Oct. 28, posting a 4-3 overtime win to halt a three-game losing streak against the Stars.

The Blues still own an 8-3-1 record over the last 12 games in this series overall, but Dallas has won the past two encounters in St. Louis.

Lehtonen boasts a lifetime 10-4-2 record and 1.99 goals against average against the Blues and is expected to start tonight.

Allen has never faced Dallas, while the veteran Brodeur holds an 11-9-1 record and 1.99 GAA in this matchup.






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