(SportsNetwork.com) - The St. Louis Blues will try to shake off a rough start to a four-game road trip when they visit the Ottawa Senators for Saturday's matinee at Canadian Tire Centre.
The Blues had won three straight and 10 of 11 before embarking on their current swing. St. Louis was blanked 2-0 Tuesday in Boston and then dropped a 4-1 decision in Thursday's clash against the Montreal Canadiens.
St. Louis has struggled on the road this season, going 4-3-1 as the guest compared to a stout 8-3-0 mark at home.
The Blues may have a difficult time picking up a win tonight, considering their recent history against Ottawa. The Senators have won two straight and seven of the past nine meetings overall and St. Louis has dropped six of seven in Canada's capital city.
Ottawa enters today's clash having won two of its last three games and the Sens notched a 3-2 victory over visiting Nashville on Thursday. The Senators trailed 1-0 early in the first period, but took control of the game with three markers in the second period.
Bobby Ryan, Alex Chiasson and Jared Cowen all had second-period goals, while Robin Lehner made 33 saves, including 15 in the third period, to record the win.
"We hadn't played in a few days, and I think they had a little more speed than us coming out," Lehner said. "I think we made it difficult for ourselves, putting the puck in the wrong spots, but I think we came out in the second and third and played the right way, really worked at it. We tried to outwork them and that's what paid off in the end."
The victory pushed Ottawa's home record to 5-1-3. The Sens will complete a brief two-game residency this afternoon before beginning a five-game road trip Monday in Detroit.
The Blues grabbed an early lead in Montreal on Thursday, but the Habs tallied the final four goals of the game to skate away with the easy win.
Vladimir Tarasenko opened the scoring at 7:45 of the first period, notching his team-leading 11th goal of the season. The score stayed that way until Dale Weise and Max Pacioretty tallied less than three minutes apart early in the second period.
Rookie Jake Allen stopped 26-of-30 shots for St. Louis and fell to 5-2-0 on the season.
"Right from the start we weren't really good," Blues defenseman Jay Bouwmeester said. "We have to figure it out on the road."
Brian Elliott is expected to start in net today and is 1-0-1 with a 1.94 goals against average in two career outings against the Sens.
Lehner is 2-0 with a 2.79 GAA in his career versus St. Louis and is expected to get the start tonight.