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On Wednesday night, the Blues finally ended their seven game losing streak, beating the Detroit Red Wings 2-1. I’m not sure Blues fans should read a lot into the win. The Red Wings are tied for the 7th worst record in the league and are only 4-5-1 in their last 10 games. Further adding fuel to this notion is that the Wings outshot the Blues 36-25 and it would have been worse had the Blues not blocked 23 shots.
Carter Hutton was sharp all night, not only making quality stops but also controlling rebounds and absorbing shots to prevent rebounds.
The Blues did play a more physical, aggressive game which was good to see and outhit the Red Winds 22-7.
The Blues took the lead 1-0 just over a minute into the 2nd period when Scottie Upshall cleaned up the garbage. Colton Parayko beat Henrik Zetterberg wide and drove to the net. Upshall put the rebound past Jimmy Howard.
The Blue extended the lead with a little over 5 minutes in the game on a goal that almost exclusively created by Jaden Schwartz’s hard work. Schwartz was good entering the zone and even more masterful chasing the puck down behind the net and feeding Alex Pietrangelo for the one-timer goal. Pietrangelo looked like the October Pietrangelo on the play with his shot high but still hitting the net. Watch it
here.
Unfortunately, the rest of the league isn’t doing the Blues many favors as they still sit out of the playoffs, now further down in the standings, having been passed by the Avalanche.
Today will be a substantially better test as the Blues will face the Stars in Dallas at 1pm. The Stars are only 5-4-1 in their last 10 games but are 22-10-2 at home. The Stars have a game in hand on the Blues and are 3 points ahead of them. A Blues victory is key to trying to be able to catch them in the standings.
The Stars are winning due to their defensive ways, allowing the 4th fewest goals per game, one spot better than the Blues.
Tyler Seguin continues to lead the way for the Stars with 34 goals and 58 points in 64 games. John Klingberg leads all NHL defensemen with 55 points. Ben Bishop is having a good season with a 91.5% save percentage.
The Blues will be looking to avenge their 2-1 loss in Dallas around 2 weeks ago. As you would expect, Carter Hutton will get the start. Robert Bortuzzo is getting close to being back in the lineup and a few of the Blues are battling illness. I’m guessing the lines to be the following but who knows at this point:
Forwards
Alexander Steen - Ivan Barbashev - Vladimir Tarasenko
Jaden Schwartz - Brayden Schenn – Nikita Soshnikov
Patrik Berglund – Vladimir Sobotka – Dmitrij Jaskin
Scotie Upshall -Kyle Brodziak – Chris Thorburn
Defense
Carl Gunnarsson - Alex Pietrangelo
Jay Bouwmeester - Colton Parayko
Robert Bortuzzo -Vince Dunn
Goalie
Carter Hutton
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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