NHL Wednesday Preview: Boston vs. St. Louis

With the NHL trade deadline approaching, the Boston Bruins might be making a move to make a playoff push, but they will have to deal with St. Louis first.

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This is the only meeting of the season between the Bruins and Blues. They haven't played each other since Nov. 6, 2010, when T.J. Oshie and Brad Boyes scored in the shootout to lead St. Louis to a 2-1 win in Boston.

Although the Bruins have four games in hand, their lead in the Northeast Division has shrunk to just two points over the Senators. The bigger concern, though, should be scoring more goals. A team that was an offensive juggernaut while tearing through its competition in November and December has been shut out four times in nine games this month. Boston figures to have its work cut out against a St. Louis squad whose 1.88 goals-against average leads the NHL.

Lack of effort could hardly be blamed for Boston getting shut out in Minnesota during "Hockey Day In America" on Sunday. The Bruins put 48 shots on Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom -- including 22 in the third period -- and had nothing to show for it but a 2-0 defeat. Second-period goals by Chad Rau and Matt Cullen a little over five minutes apart were all Tim Thomas allowed, as he finished with 27 saves. Tyler Seguin and Joe Corvo each fired six shots and David Krejci had five, but they and their teammates were left consistently shaking their heads.

Game in and game out, St. Louis continues to receive solid-to-spectacular goaltending from its tandem of Brian Elliott and Jaroslav Halak. Elliott blanked Minnesota on Saturday and was right back in net against Central rival Chicago on Sunday, where he extended his shutout streak to over 160 minutes as the Blackhawks carried a 1-0 lead into the third period. It came on the strength of an Andy McDonald goal with 24 seconds left in the first, but the Blues never built on it and the Hawks rallied in the final 15:08 to hand them a 3-1 loss.

The Bruins are slumping heading into the tough part of the season and this win against the Blues could be very important.