Follow me on twitter Follow @stlgoalie The Blues suffered an embarrassing 5-2 loss on Saturday night to the Arizona Coyotes. The Coyotes who happen to have the fewest points and worst point percentage in the NHL were able to dominate the Blues with the lone exception of the Blues going 2 for 3 on the power play. They outshot the Blues 44-27 and opened up a 5-0 lead less than 25 minutes into the game.
I’m sure Blues fans would trade the power play going back to futile for the rest of their game returning to normal. I know teams salute their fans after wins but if ever there was a game the Blues should have saluted the fans who remained to the end, it was Saturday night. Owner Tom Stillman should have given away some of his Summit Distributing products to those who remained through the entire game.
The ony video clip Blues fans need to see about the game is this one from the next practice:
It tells the story well enough. Jeremy Rutherford and Lou Korac posted more on their twitter accounts if you want to check them out yourself.
Blues fans have reason to be concerned. The Blues are in a precarious playoff spot. While they do sit in 3rd in the Central division currently, most of the teams behind them have games in hand. With a win in their game in hand, Dallas would leap frog the Blues. With only 1 win in their 3 games in hand, Colorado would leap frog the Blues. If the Wild and Kings win their games in hand, they would be tied for the Blues for the last wild card seed with identical ROWs (the tie breaker). If the Blues don’t turn it around in the coming weeks, they could be sitting where the Blackhawks are, on the outside looking in with quickly diminishing chances of even making the playoffs.
The Blues hope that tonight’s game against the Senators will start a positive trend at home. The Senators will be looking to avenge last Thursday’s 4-1 loss to the Blues in Ottawa. They will face a tough test as they lost in Minnesota last night by a score of 3-1 and have lost 3 straight.
For the Blues, it appears Carter Hutton will get the start again. Hutton stopped 20 of 21 shots last Thursday against the Senators. It also appears that Scottie Upshall will be dressed as will all 7 healthy defensemen, meaning that Oskar Sundqvist, Chris Thorburn, and Magnus Paajarvi are expected to be out.
Against the Senators, Paul Stastny has 10 points in 11 games and Vladimir Tarasenko has 7 points in 9 games. Alex Pietrangelo has had success against the Senators with 8 points in 12 games. Brayden Schenn and Alexander Steen both had a goal and an assist in the game last Thursday.
Look for Jaden Schwartz to make his return on Thursday or next Tuesday at the latest.
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.