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Blues Lose Berglund And Lehtera In Shootout Victory

January 29, 2015, 11:13 PM ET [30 Comments]
Randall Ritchey
St Louis Blues Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Blues managed to hobble into a shootout victory tonight. They lost both Patrik Berglund (shoulder injury) and Jori Lehtera (upper body) to injuries tonight.

Jaden Schwartz, T.J. Oshie, Steve Ott, and Ryan Reaves scored for the Blues while Kevin Shattenkirk scored the game winning goal in the shootout. Mike Fisher (2), Filip Forsberg, and James Neal scored for Nashville.

It was a hard fought game. Both goalies had to come up big at times, and eventually, Brian Elliott out-dueled Carter Hutton to earn the victory.

The story of this game has to be the losses of Patrik Berglund and Jori Lehtera. Berglund's injury looked pretty serious. His arm just hung from his body as he skated to the bench, as he wasn't moving it at all. It looked like a pretty serious injury as well. Nothing you want to see. I wouldn't expect to see Berglund in the next few weeks, and if we do, I'll be surprised.

Lehtera's injury was hard to gauge. He went into the boards with a Predators player, and nothing looked to serious at first. He went back to the bench in some discomfort, but then he went to the locker room and didn't return.

If I had to guess, I'd bet we see Lehtera back before we see Berglund back.

If both players are out and can't play in the next few days, Joakim Lindstrom will return to the line up. It will be painful watching him try to be a positive influence. I'm honestly shocked he's still on the roster.

But if both players are out, we might be seeing a call up or two from the Chicago Wolves.

My top two call ups are Ty Rattie and Phillip McRae.

Rattie is the offensive guy. The man loves to shoot the puck. He's not huge, but he's built a lot like Jaden Schwartz. Not big, but solid, and isn't pushed off the puck very easily.

Phil McRae has been a stud for Chicago this season. He's producing offensively and is kicking things up a notch in the defensive zone. Both would be better options than looking at Lindstrom again, who's proven he can't compete in this league. At this point, let us look at the younger guys who could still have a future with this organization.

Personally, I could see McRae landing the fourth line center position next season. He's put in the work, and it's showed this season with the Wolves. For Rattie, he's going to be an offensive player. If his offense translates to the NHL, now is as good as time as any to give him a look.

Marcel Goc had a solid first game tonight, going 72% in the face-off circle. He played just under 13 minutes tonight. He played just under two minutes on the penalty kill, and was on the ice for the Steve Ott goal.


No pre-game tomorrow, working 9-5, but I will have a longer post-game article tomorrow. Enjoy your nights, and cross your fingers that we don't have to see Lindstrom in the line up for an extended period of time.
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