The St. Louis Blues have another chance to cut their deficit in the Central Division in half if they can end their five-game road trip with a victory and get another regulation loss from a slumping rival.
The Blues have gotten plenty of wins in recent visits to play the Toronto Maple Leafs and will try for another Saturday night.
St. Louis (40-19-5) is within four points of Nashville, losers of five straight in regulation, and has two games in hand, but failed to take advantage of the Predators' latest defeat Thursday. The Blues entered the third period with a one-goal lead against Philadelphia but exited with a 3-1 loss.
Nashville hosts Winnipeg on Saturday night.
"There's a lot on the line this time of year no matter what team you're playing," forward Jaden Schwartz said. "These points are huge. ... We let this one slip away. Hopefully, we can learn from it and not let it happen again."
St. Louis is 2-1-1 on its trip and faces a Toronto team that's 7-25-2 since Dec. 17.
While the Maple Leafs have won their past two home games, the Blues are 7-0-1 in their last eight visits to the Air Canada Centre. St. Louis has also won three in a row overall in the series and 11 of the past 15 matchups.
Brian Elliott stopped 27 shots in a 3-0 home win Jan. 17 in the only other meeting this season. That game was the most recent of Elliott's three shutouts, and he's 2-1-0 with a 1.31 goals-against average in his three starts on this road trip.
FOX Sports Midwest coverage of the Blues-Maple Leafs game begins at 5:30 p.m. with Blues Live.
Toronto (26-34-5) had some difficulty stopping teams on a recently completed four-game trip, giving up four goals in each of its three losses on that journey. After rallying for a 3-2 win against Florida on Tuesday, the Maple Leafs finished with a 4-2 defeat to Tampa Bay on Thursday.
They allowed two goals in both the first and third periods after David Booth drew them within 2-1 in the second.
"It's tough when you lose. You don't feel good after those games," said Booth, who scored his second goal of the season. "I thought our first period, we really struggled. I don't know what the excuse was for that, but it wasn't good enough."
David Backes registered one of his three career hat tricks in the Blues' most recent visit to Toronto, a 5-3 win March 25. He has seven goals and five assists in nine lifetime games against the Maple Leafs, but has totaled two goals and one assist in his last nine contests.
Alexander Steen, pointless in a season-high six straight games, has five goals and four assists in six career matchups against Toronto.
Kevin Shattenkirk scored the opening goal in the win in January but has been out since Feb. 1 after undergoing abdominal surgery. The Blues acquired Zbynek Michalek from Arizona on Monday to help replace him, but he hasn't played since Feb. 14 because of a concussion.
Another recently acquired defenseman, Robert Bortuzzo, made his debut with the team Thursday. Veteran center Olli Jokinen, on his third team this season and acquired from Toronto on Monday after getting one assist in six games with the Leafs, is expected to make his Blues debut.
