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Anyone else notice a few patterns developing this September for the Blues? So far it seems to be starting with blown leads and injuries. The Blues blew a 5-1 third period lead in the first NHL Prospects Tournament game. Last night, their preseason squad only lost a 3-2 period lead.
In the NHL Prospects tournament, they lost Adam Musil and Jordan Kyrou to injury. So far in camp, they have lost Jay Bouwmeester and Zachary Sanford and last night they lost Alexander Steen for at least three weeks and likely more. He will be re-evaluated with Bouwmeester in three weeks. Steen was slashed on the left hand in the game last night but more on that later.
There isn't really anything to be too concerned about on both fronts but it sure does seem odd a bit.
As the Blues host the Blue Jackets tonight, expect their lines to look like the following:
Forwards
Magnus Paajarvi – Paul Stastny – Vladimir
Jaden Schwartz – Brayden Schenn – Samuel Blais
Dmitrij Jaskin – Oskar Sundqvist – Beau Bennett
Toropchenko – Adam Musil – Chris Thorburn
Defensemen
Joel Edmundson – Alex Pietrangelo
Vince Dunn – Colton Parayko
Chris Butler – Niko Mikkola
Dmitrij Sergeev - extra
Goalies
Jake Allen and Ville Husso
It’s interesting to note that Dunn played last night as well.
The Blue Jackets are expected to ice the following lineup:
Sonny Milano - Zac Dalpe - Oliver Bjorkstrand
Matt Calvert - Calvin Thurkauf - Cam Atkinson
Paul Bittner - Justin Scott - Jordan Schroeder
Bobby MacIntyre - Jordan Maletta - Joe Pendenza
Ryan Murray - Ryan Collins
Scott Harrington - Jack Johnson
Andre Benoit - Brady Austin
Brad Thiessen and Ivan Kulbakov
In looking at last night’s game, you might notice the following:
1) Walman, Kyrou, Barbashev and Thompson lead the Blues in shots with 3.
2) Thomas and Sobotka were putrid in the face-off dot – 31% and 14% respectively.
3) Thomas was -3 with no points in almost 20 minutes of ice time.
4) Steen was -2 with only 1 shot in 20.5 minutes of ice time, perhaps due to the injury?
5) Blais, Megan and Kostin were your goal scorers with Blais also adding an assist.
6) Other than Walman, Prosser was the only defenseman to get a shot on goal.
7) Bortuzzo was the only defenseman to register a hit and he had four.
8) Hutton had a 81.8% save percentage while Binnington stopped 83.3%.
9) There were 19 power plays between the two team with 3 power play goals.
Update – Tarsaenko opens the goal scoring tonight with a power play goal at 6:51 of the 1st period from Stastny as the lone assist. The Blues are outshooting the Blue Jackets 11-3 to start the game.
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 will donate in their name.
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