Tonight marks the lone meeting between these teams this season. They only played each other once last year, with Buffalo coming out with a 5-3 defeat of the Blues.
St.Louis comes into this game with 59 points (one less than Buffalo), and has won just three of the past ten, but has grabbed three extra points by overtime losses as well.
While the Sabres sit just two points out of the playoffs with 60 points, the Blues are 13th in the Western Conference with 59, nine points out. The difference between third and ninth place in the West is just three points.
The Sabres have another chance to move into the eighth playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Trailing the Hurricanes by two points, a Buffalo win and a Carolina loss would propel the Sabres into the top eight.
Tonight is Buffalo’s second game of the six game homestand. The Sabres fell to Toronto 2-1 on Wednesday, after giving up a league-high 11th shorthanded goal.
Former Sabre goaltender Ty Conklin will get the start tonight in relief of injured Jaroslav Halak. Ever since Conklin left Buffalo, he has beaten up on the Sabres, posting a 6-1 record against them, along with a 1.70 goals against average and a .943 save percentage.