Red Wings visit streaking, scoring-machine St. Louis Blues

The St. Louis Blues are on a five-game winning streak in which they have outscored their opponents 29-10.

The Blues beat the Edmonton Oilers, 4-2, Tuesday night while the Detroit Red Wings defeated the Buffalo Sabres, 3-1. The Red Wings now head to St. Louis for a game Thursday night with the red-hot Blues.

TV: 8 p.m. on FSDT, FSMW

About the Blues (27-13-3):

The Blues are the hottest team in the Western Conference outside of Nashville. They score a lot -- 140 goals in 43 games this season, second only to the Tampa Bay Lightning's high-powered offense which has scored 146 goals in 45 games -- and they punish teams physically.

St. Louis boasts the most efficient power play in the league with a 25.5 percent conversion rate. The key to stopping this team is limiting their score sheet tallies and keeping them at even strength, if you can.

Scoring on the Blues is another challenge, although their goalies have been suffering injuries this season.

Brian Elliott is back in net and expected to start Thursday night. He had a rough start Saturday, allowing 3 goals on 10 shots. He was relieved by Jake Allen.

The St. Louis defense has been solid all year. Kevin Shattenkirk leads all NHL defensemen with 37 points and a +18 rating. When the Blues get a power play, Shattenkirk likely will be involved in the scoring. He has 23 power play points.

About the Red Wings (23-11-9):

Darren Helm scored a highlight-reel goal (shorthanded to boot) Tuesday night to give his Red Wings a rare 1-0 lead. They have struggled to score first, and they'll definitely want to get on the board early in St. Louis.

Petr Mrazek has taken over the starting goalie role with both Jimmy Howard (groin) and Jonas Gustavsson (shoulder) hurt. The 22-year-old Czech native made 24 saves in Buffalo to earn his 6th win of the season. Tom McCollum is backing him up.

Gustav Nyquist and Tomas Tatar both scored goals in the 3-1 win over the Sabres.

Rookie defenseman Xavier Ouellett is hovering around 14 minutes of ice time each night while being paired up with Brendan Smith.

This will be the first of two meetings between the Blues and Red Wings this season. The second is March 22 when the Red Wings' host the Blues at Joe Louis Arena.

After this, the NHL's first-place Nashville Predators visit Detroit on Saturday.