Bailey, Islanders continue playoff quest against Blues

ST. LOUIS -- Josh Bailey will have a special cheering section on Saturday night when the New York Islanders visits the St. Louis Blues at Scottrade Center.

Bailey's parents and grandparents are making the latter part of the Islanders' road trip.

"For my parents, they are trying to see me play in every rink so they're getting close and this knocks three more off the list, so it's nice to spend some time with them on the trip," Bailey told NHL.com.

Bailey hopes to continue his hot play as the Islanders complete a nine-game road trip. He tied a career high with three assists in New York's 4-3 overtime win over Vancouver on Thursday. He has a team-high 37 assists and 49 points this season.

Bailey enters the game with 299 career points.

"He's really seeing the ice right now," Islanders coach Doug Weight said of Bailey to NHL.com. "The puck is kind of following him. ... He's been a cornerstone and he's been a strong, strong player this year."

The Islanders currently are in the last wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with 75 points, just one point ahead of Toronto.

Andrew Ladd's game-winner salvaged a crucial extra point for the Islanders against the Canucks, who had tied the score with 19.3 seconds left in the third quarter. The Islanders have 11 points through the first eight games of the trip.

"The third was a much better period for us, but six-on-five we have to find a way to keep the puck out of our net," Islanders forward John Tavares told NHL.com. "It was unfortunate to give up one late, but good perseverance overcoming the way we played today and getting a big goal in OT."

The Islanders are 15-6-3 since Weight took over and are 26-13-7 after a disastrous 6-10-4 start to the season. They are 6-2-1 in their last nine.

The Blues enter on the heels of a last-minute 4-3 victory over Anaheim on Friday night. Joel Edmundson's goal with 20 seconds left broke the tie and ran St. Louis' winning streak to three games.

But the Blues might be short a critical piece on their defense as Colton Parayko left the game in the second period with an undisclosed injury.

"It's something that we don't expect to be long term and it was more of a precautionary measure on our part to take him out," Blues coach Mike Yeo said. "I would say that he's questionable right now for tomorrow."

The injury left St. Louis with just five defensemen for the last period facing a quick turnaround against New York.

Every point is critical for the Blues, who hold a three-point lead over Los Angeles for the Western Conference's final wild-card spot and are two points behind Nashville for third in the Central Division.

"We have to focus on tonight and we had to get the win and we were in a position to win the game so you run the bench accordingly," Yeo said. "Tomorrow is a new challenge and those guys played a lot, but those are character games and part of that is you play a little smarter."