Blues at Sabres preview

BLUES (37-27-7) at SABRES (30-32-9)
5 p.m. ET; NHLN, MSG-B, FS-MW, NHL.TV

The Blues are 1-2-1 after going 15-3-1 in their previous 19 games. They trail the idle Nashville Predators by six points.
St. Louis center Ryan O'Reilly returns to Buffalo for the first time since being acquired in a trade with the Sabres for forwards Vladimir Sobotka, Tage Thompson and Patrik Berglund, and two draft picks on July 1, 2018.
The Sabres are 2-11-2 in their past 15 games and will try to end a season-high seven-game losing streak (0-6-1). It's their longest skid since going 0-5-2 from Nov. 10-22, 2017.

Players to watch

Blues forward David Perron has points in 14 consecutive games played (six goals, 11 assists). He had an assist in a 5-1 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday after missing 24 games with an upper-body injury.
Sabres forward Jeff Skinner has 12 points (nine goals, three assists) in his past 11 games against the Blues. He ended a 13-game goal drought during a 4-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday.

They said it

"I don't know what to really expect. I've been traded before. It helps a lot knowing it's going to be weird to be in that building. But at the end of the day, it's two points that we need and just focus on my game that way." -- Blues center Ryan O'Reilly
"Just off the rush, we were driving hard to the net. We got some second and third opportunities, but that's just not flowing for us right now. We've just got to continue to grind it out." -- Sabres coach Phil Housley on scoring for the first time in four games

Blues projected lineup

Brayden Schenn -- Ryan O'Reilly -- David Perron
Pat Maroon -- Tyler Bozak -- Robert Thomas
Jaden Schwartz -- Oskar Sundqvist -- Alexander Steen
Mackenzie MacEachern -- Ivan Barbashev -- Zach Sanford
Vince Dunn -- Alex Pietrangelo
Jay Bouwmeester -- Colton Parayko
Michael Del Zotto -- Robert Bortuzzo
Jake Allen
Jordan Binnington
Scratched:Joel Edmundson, Sammy Blais, Robby Fabbri
Injured:Vladimir Tarasenko (upper body), Carl Gunnarsson (upper body)

Sabres projected lineup

Jeff Skinner -- Jack Eichel -- Sam Reinhart
Conor Sheary -- Evan Rodrigues -- Alexander Nylander
Tage Thompson -- Casey Mittelstadt -- Jason Pominville
Zemgus Girgensons -- Johan Larsson -- Kyle Okposo
Matt Hunwick -- Rasmus Ristolainen
Zach Bogosian -- Brandon Montour
Rasmus Dahlin -- Casey Nelson
Carter Hutton
Linus Ullmark
Scratched:Scott Wilson, Vladimir Sobotka
Injured:Marco Scandella (upper body), Jake McCabe (upper body)

Status report

Neither team held a morning skate.

Stat pack

Steen is expected to play in his 700th game with the Blues, becoming the sixth player in their history to do so. … The Blues are 11-3-2 in their past 16 road games. … Skinner, who has 37 goals, is one goal from setting a new NHL career high. … Eichel needs two goals to reach 100 in the NHL. … Reinhart is one point away from 200.