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Blues Vs Sharks GDT and Lineup Up in the Air

November 17, 2016, 1:52 PM ET [20 Comments]
Jason Millen
St Louis Blues Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT


The Blues will be looking to take the first step in avenging their Western Conference final loss tonight when they host the San Jose Sharks at 7pm. With a victory tonight, the Blues would leapfrog the Jets and move into second place, somewhere between 3 and 5 points behind the Blackhawks. A Sharks win tonight would give them the most points in their division through 17 games played, though the Ducks and Oilers are playing their 18th game tonight and could stay ahead of them with a win.

The Sharks are in the middle of a six game road trip where they won their first three against tough opponents (Capitals, Panthers, and Lighting) but lost their most recent game 1-0 to the lowly Hurricanes (in the bottom 20% of the NHL).

The Blues are in the middle of a 3 game home stand, having won the opener against Buffalo. Home ice has been good to the Blues who have points in each of their last 6 home games, going 4-0-2.

The Sharks are 1-0 against Central division teams, besting Nashville 4-1 while the Blues are 2-2-1 against Pacific division teams, scoring 1 goal in four of those five games.
Both teams have been excellent on the penalty kill, with the Blues 2nd in the NHL and the Sharks 3rd. Both teams average a fraction under 30 shots per game and are among the league best in preventing shots against with the Blues 3rd in shots against per game and the Sharks 2nd. The Sharks however have turned the shot prevention into a goals against average that is a half a goal a game lower than the Blues.

For the Sharks, defenseman Brent Burns leads the team in goals and points. Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski lead the team in assists. Martin Jones and backup Aaron Dell have both been good with 2.20 and 1.90 and 91.3% and 93.2% goals against averages and save percentages, respectively.

Tonight’s lineup will easily be the most unclear of any game this year. All eligible players will take the warm-up skate with game time decisions being made on Alexander Steen and Vladimir Tarasenko with the potential of Nail Yakupov and Ty Rattie seeing action should they not be able to go. Robert Bortuzzo will also take warm-ups and may see action tonight.

Other than the Upshall/Brodziak/Reaves line and the Bouwmeester/Pietrangelo pairing, the lines and pairings will be dependent on who can play tonight. Expect Jake Allen to be in net.

Jammer’s 9 NHL Nuggets
1) Have you heard much talk about Devan Dubnyk this season? You should be as he has the highest save percentage of any goalie who has played 6 games or more at 94.8%. He’s tied with Carey Price but has 20 more saves.
2) Not much of a rivalry night game last night on NBCSN with the Capitals crushing the Penguins 7-1. Ovechkin wins another game but Crosby still has more Cups and gold medals.
3) Some Blues fans might smirk as Brian Elliott has the worst save percentage of any goalie with at least 10 games.
4) They shouldn’t smirk too much as Jake Allen isn’t that far above him (5 goalies separate them).
5) Kevin Shattenkirk is in a 3 way tie for most points as a defenseman (Karlsson and Burns).
6) Reports of Marian Hossa’s decline last year appear to be very overblown. 9g 6a in 16 games.
7) Rookie Patrik Laine has as many or more goals than all of the other rookies have points except for 3 (Marner, Werenski, and Nylander). Laine has as many GOALS as Matthews has points.
8) Seems I have found my soapbox for the year. Weresnki may be the best rookie this season to date. Playing D, playing almost 22 minutes a night, almost a point a game, a + player, a game winging goal, etc.
9) Don’t look now but the Oilers have lost 4 in a row and 7 of their last 9.

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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