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Blues vs Coyotes game day preview

December 8, 2015, 7:01 PM ET [24 Comments]
Guest Writer
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Blues vs Coyotes game day preview

The Blues hope to rebound from their ugly loss to the Leafs as they take on the Arizona (don’t call me Phoenix) Coyotes at 7pm CST at the Scottrade Center tonight. The Blues have been a mediocre 4-3-3 in their last 10and now find themselves within 1 game reach of the 5th place Black Hawks. The Coyotes on the other hand are trying to end their 4 game losing streak. While the Coyotes have been struggling, they are within one point of second place in the Pacific division.

The Coyotes will be without perennial captain Shane Doan who is on injured reserve. Without Doan in the lineup, the Coyotes will depend on a lot of youngsters including Max Domi to carry the scoring. Antoinne Vermette has had the most success against the Blues with 6 goals and 9 assists in 34 games. Both Mike Smith and Anders Lindback have struggled against the Blues with GAA at 3 or more and with Smith’s save percentage being only 88.7%.

For the Blues, David Backes and Paul Stastny have enjoyed the most success against the Coyotes with 20 goals and 33 assists in 60 games. Alex Pietrangelo has also been strong contributing 3 goals and 11 assists in 19 games. Would you believe that Vladimir Tarasenko will look to get his first career goal against the Coyotes tonight? He is scoreless in 7 games.

The expected lines for the Blues are as follows:
Paajarvi –Stastny – Tarasenko
Steen – Backes – Brouwer
Fabbri – Lehtera -Jaskin
Upshall – Brodziak – Reaves
Bouwmeester – Pietrangelo
Lindbohm – Shattenkirk
Gunnarsson – Parayko
Allen

Tidbits from around the league:
- I want to wish Pascal Dupuis all the best. We applaud your efforts in trying to resume your career and for realizing that the risk isn’t worth it. May you enjoy spending more time you’re your wife and children and not miss the game too much.
- Two of the top four points per game teams are in the Metropolitan division (Rangers and Capitals).
- The Capitals success is likely due to special teams with them being 2nd on the PP and 7th on the PK and 1st when you combine the percentages.
- 4 of the top 5 teams in the league in points per game average over 30 shots per game.
- The only team that doesn’t is the Rangers. They should thank the King.
- If I never see another player hit the boards like Steve Ott did, that would be great. Ouch. Hopefully that type of injury isn’t career ending for a guy his age.

It’s a great day for hockey.
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