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The Blues continued frustrating their fans on Tuesday night, losing the 3rd period and the game to the Ottawa Senators by a score of 6-4. They teased their faithful by showing some compete in tying the game up 3-3 before folding in the 3rd. The loss dropped them to 2-6 in their last 8 games at the Scottrade.
The Blues questionable goaltending and poor save percentage will get a big test when the Washington Capitals visit tonight. Not only to the Capitals have the 2nd best point percentage in the league but the Capitals offense is on fire, having scored 28 goals in their last 5 games. They have an 11 game point streak, going 9-0-2 in those 11 games, and are 3-0-1 in their last 4 road games.
The Capitals have a league best 2.05 goals against per game and the 6th best goals scored per game. The Blues are 9th in goals for but since a disappointing 25th in goals against per game. The Capitals and Blues have the 3rd and 4th best power plays, respectively.
For all of the talk about TJ Oshie being back in town again, the Blues better focus on Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin as together they have combined for 41 points in only 27 games, more than 1.5 points per game.
Braden Holtby will get the start in net and has been strong against the Blues with a 94.9% save percentage and a 1.50 goals against average. John Carlson is not expected to dress for the Capitals tonight.
For the Blues, Jake Allen will get another try in net. Allen has only played one game against the Capitals, a 32 save shutout.
Some of the Blues have enjoyed success against the Capitals. Vladimir Tarasenko has 5 goals and 6 points in 6 games. Paul Stastny has 12 points in 12 games and Jaden Schwartz has 5 points in 7 games. Colton Parayko has the highest point ratio on defense with a goal and an assist in 3 games.
Patrik Berglund got a late, mostly meaningless goal to continue his hot streak. He has 6 goals in his last 8 games.
It looks like a number of changes are in order in the lines. Look for them to start like this:
Schwartz – Stastny – Steen
Jaskin – Lehtera - Tarasenko -
Fabbri – Berglund – Perron
Upshall – Brodziak – Reaves
Bouwmeester –Pietrangelo
Gunnarsson – Shattenkirk
Bortuzzo - Parayko
Allen
No time for Jammer’s nuggets today.
It’s a great day for hockey.
Fellow Hockeybuzz bloggers
Nashville Predator's Paul McCann,
Winnipeg Jet's Peter Tessier and
Minnesota Wild's Dan Wallace have generously agreed to a friendly charity wager. We were hoping to do the whole division but don't have it fully represented yet. The blogger whose team finishes the highest the standings at the end of the year gets to pick a charity to whom the others donate in their name.
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