Preview: Coyotes at St. Louis Blues, 4:30 p.m., FOX Sports Arizona

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The quirks of the 82-game regular-season schedule bring the Coyotes and St. Louis Blues together for two games over the next three days -- Monday night in St. Louis and Wednesday in Glendale.

And as fate would have it, it means the Coyotes' first pick in the 2016 draft, Clayton Keller, will make his professional debut in front of family and friends at the Scottrade Center.

Keller, who signed an entry level contract on Sunday, grew up in nearby Swansea, Ill., as a Blues fan.

"My grandpa and dad took me to games here when I was real little," Keller said. "It's really special to have the first one here. I'm just trying to enjoy here."

Keller signed with the Coyotes one day after his Boston University team lost in the NCAA tournament. As a freshman, Keller led the Terriers with 21 goals and 24 assists in 31 games.

"He's got to get up and going," Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said. "He's a young player that's going to have a lot to learn. I'm sure they'll be a lot of excitement and probably some nerves from him, but he's a high-skilled, really intelligent player. Hopefully he gets in and does what he does best and makes some plays."














Monday's game concludes a five-game road trip for the Coyotes (27-39-9), who fell to 1-3-0 on the trip with Saturday's 4-1 loss at Washington. They've scored just one goal in each of the three losses.

The Blues (40-28-6) have won 9 of their last 11 to solidify their hold on the second wild-card position in the Western Conference. They had won 9 of 10 before suffereing a 3-2 overtime loss to Calgary on Saturday. All three Calgary goals came off deflections by St. Louis players.

"It's tough when all three goals go in off your own guys," Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said. "I feel bad for Jake (Allen), to play the way he did. Tough bounces, but we got a point out of it."

Center Alex Burmistrov is expected to rejoin the Coyotes lineup after missing 13 games because of an upper-body injury.

The Coyotes have lost their last nine games against the Blues, and St. Louis goalie Allen is 6-0-0 with a 1.00 goals-against average and a .962 save percentage against Arizona.

Vladimir Tarasenko leads the Blues with 34 goals and 65 points. Radim Vrbata leads the Coyotes with 18 goals and 52 points.