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On Tuesday the Blues dropped a close game to the best team in the NHL, the Tampa Bay Lightning by a score of 3-0. The game was closer than the score represents as the Lightning only led 1-0 with less than 7 minutes left in the game and included an empty net goal.
The teams played a very even game with the primary differences being that Andrey Vasilevskiy outplayed Jake Allen (though Allen did not play poorly), Brayen Point hit his empty net try from a tougher angle than Vladimir Sobotka missed his empty net try, and Nikita Kucherov was able to beat Allen while Vasilevskiy foiled a number of quality chances from Vladimir Tarasenko.
The Blues were short-handed without Alex Pietrangelo, Jay Bouwmeester, and Jaden Schwartz and played as well as the Lightning. Sometimes you play well and don’t win during a long season. If the Blues bring that effort and game every night, they will win the vast majority of their remaining games. If you don’t believe me, take Vasilevskiy’s word for it as he said “they’re definitely the best team in the West”.
Speaking of Sobotka, there is no real reason to bash him for missing the open net. By now, Blues fans need to accept that he is an average 3rd line player. Average 3rd line players don’t always bury their quality chances at the rate you would expect or hope.
Why do I say he is a third line player? In looking at production since 2015 of players with at least 10 games, Sobotka ranks 269th in goals per 60 minutes and 193 in points per 60 minutes. He’s never reached 10 goals in a NHL season nor even 35 points.
The Blues likely turned the page yesterday on the game and their frustration with playing fairly well and not winning. They need to focus on the Anaheim Ducks who visit the Scottrade tonight.
The Ducks are starting a 6 game road trip tonight. They have lost their last 3 road games and are 5-4-4 on the road this season. Their struggles this season mostly surround their lack of goal scoring (4th lowest in the league), presumably due to various key injuries to Ryan Getzlaf, to Ryan Kesler, to Rickard Rakell, to Cam Fowler, to Hampus Lindholm, and now to Coery Perry.
For the Blues, it sounds like Jay Bouwmeester will be back in the lineup. It also sounds like Carter Hutton will be back Saturday and Alex Pietrangelo on Sunday.
Reports of tonight’s lines look like this:
Forwards
Alexander Steen - Brayden Schenn - Dmitrij Jaskin
Vladimir Sobotka – Paul Stastny - Vladimir Tarasenko
Scottie Upshall – Patrik Berglund – Ivan Barbashev
Magnus Paajarvi – Kyle Brodziak – Chris Thorburn
Defense
Joel Edmundson - Colton Parayko
Jay Bouwmeester - Robert Bortuzzo
Carl Gunnarsson - Vince Dunn
Goalie
Jake Allen
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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