Patrick Kane and Patrick Sharp celebrate a goal as the Blackhawks edged the Blues back in January.  The teams face off tonight in St. Louis (Blackhawks Facebook)

Patrick Kane and Patrick Sharp celebrate a goal as the Blackhawks edged the Blues back in January. The teams face off tonight in St. Louis (Blackhawks Facebook)

The St. Louis Blues stopped a two-game losing streak when they last played on Saturday, beating the Columbus Blue Jackets 2-1, ending a two game winless streak. The Blues, playing for the first time in five days, may be rusty and shorthanded against the best team in the NHL.

The Blues were already without rookie Vladimir Tarasenko, who was placed on injured reserve with a concussion last week, but the injury bug hit  Tuesday when both Andy McDonald and Alex Steen were hurt during the same practice drill. Steen’s upper-body injury, has him day-to-day, but McDonald’s injured left knee could keep him out considerably longer.

They have been getting great goaltending from Jaroslav Halak since his return from a groin injury. He’s 1-0-1 and has allowed just two goals in his two games back. He’ll need to be sharp tonight against Chicago.

As the season nears its halfway point, the Blackhawks are 16-0-3 and have 35 points in the standings while no other team has 30. The Hawks have a league-best plus-24 goal differential, which is nine goals better than the next-best (Pittsburgh Penguins), and an 8-0-2 record on the road. The Hawks are playing their first game on the road in 2 1/2 weeks.