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2/15, Blues at Flames: GDT |
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Tonight’s Game
St. Louis Blues (7-5-1, 15 points – 8th) vs. Calgary Flames (4-4-3, 11 points – 12th)
Game Time: 8:00pm Central
Scotiabank Saddledome, Calgary, AB
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Tale of the Tape
Goals per game: St. Louis 4th (3.25 GPG), Calgary T-7th (3.00 GPG)
Goals allowed per game: St. Louis 24th (3.23 GPG), Calgary 26th (3.27 GPG)
Shots per game: St. Louis T-12th (29.8 SPG), Calgary 5th (30.6 SPG)
Shots allowed per game: St. Louis 1st (21.9 SPG), Calgary T-4th (26.7 SPG)
Power Play: St. Louis 1st (17-of-49, 34.7%, 1 SHGA – EN), Calgary 2nd (11-of-40, 27.5%)
Penalty Kill: St. Louis 23rd (38-of-49, 77.6%, 2 SHG), Calgary 27th (29-of-40, 72.5%)
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Projected Blues Lines
Forwards
Perron – Backes – Oshie
McDonald – Steen – Tarasenko
Schwartz – Berglund – Stewart
Sobotka – Nichol – Reaves
Defense
Cole – Pietrangelo
Jackman – Shattenkirk
Russell – Polak
Goalies
Allen
Elliot
Scratches: D’Agostini, Redden, Halak
Injuries: Langenbrunner (hip, IR); Backes (groin, probable); Halak (groin, doubtful).
No changes in the starting lineup from the Detroit game – which means Allen gets the start in net again (and which may tell you what the team thinks of Elliott right now). Backes is nursing a groin strain, but I would expect him to go – but that might explain his play as of late. It will be interesting to see how Russell handles the Flames forwards; if he struggles dealing with the size the Flames have tonight, take note – it’s probably a sign of what to expect come playoff time.
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From the other bench
Forwards
Hudler – Tanguay – Cervenka
Glencross – Horak – Iginla
Cammalleri – Stajan – Stempniak
Jackman – Jones – Comeau
Defense
Bouwmeester – Giordano
Brodie – Wideman
Butler – Sarich
Goalies
Irving
McDonald
Scratches: Begin, Smith, Babchuk
Injuries: Kiprusoff (hip, IR); Baertschi (hip, IR); Backlund (knee, IR).
Right now, I’m going with the same lineup the Flames had vs. Dallas; I don’t think there will be any changes, but if there are and I catch them before game time, I’ll make them here and comment accordingly.
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Last Game
-- The Blues snapped a 5-game losing streak with a 4-3 win over Detroit at Joe Louis Arena. Alex Steen scored 52 seconds into overtime to give the Blues a much-needed win, and bail out rookie goalie Jake Allen who made his first career start and looked shaky at times in stopping 15 of 18 Red Wing shots. Patrik Berglund had a short-handed goal, Vladimir Tarasenko had a power-play goal, and Chris Stewart had an even-strength goal … the 6th of the year for all three. (For those into ominous signs, the goals scored by those guys as depicted in the box score: 6-6-6. For good measure, Pavel Datsyuk had his 6th after Stewart.)
-- Calgary unleased the offense at home in a 7-4 pounding of Dallas, pulling the Flames to .500 on the season. Mike Cammalleri had a hat trick and added an assist for the Flames, who were a perfect 2-for-2 on the PP and also got goals from Jay Bouwmeester, Jiri Hudler, Curtis Glencross, and Roman Cervenka. Leland Irving stopped 30 of 34 shots for his 2nd win of the season.
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Miscellaneous Comments
I’m writing this at work, so no extensive list tonight. Just my $.02 on the game.
The Flames have responded positively under Bob Hartley, and after a slow start look like they’re on track. Not a surprise, Hartley has a way of getting teams to play well – but how much can he really squeeze out of this team? A lot of people are interested to see the answer to that question – and certainly other teams around the league are circling waiting to pick apart the Flames roster if they struggle.
In some ways, Allen wasn’t bad against Detroit – but in other ways, he showed why I have concerns about his NHL future. Getting beat from behind the net was bad once; getting beaten there twice was seriously troubling. If he can’t hug the post, keep his stick down, and limit chances from behind the net, he’s going to get abused by teams. His positioning isn’t fantastic, and it’s showed in both games he’s played. Sure, he’s young and has time – but this is also his 3rd year of professional hockey. Either he’s not getting the coaching he needs, or the message isn’t sinking in; whatever it is, it’s troubling.
Looking at the stats, in a lot of ways these two teams are similar. Lots of offense, not much defense, PP is great, PK isn’t, … will be interesting to see if we get a wide-open game with lots of goals, or a defensive chess match threatening to go 2-1. In recent years, it’s been a lot of the latter – the last game to have more than 5 goals scored combined was March 10, 2008 when the Flames blitzed the Blues 7-3. Since then, the two teams have combined for 31 goals in 9 games, or 3.44 goals per game. Combined.
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Tonight a recap of the game – even if it’s really late.
Tomorrow: if I can get a file put back together, a look at the draft record of Jarmo Kekalainen while he was in St. Louis. Otherwise, a quick look at Blues prospects and my thoughts on them at this point in time.
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