Follow me on twitter Follow @stlgoalie The Blues bested their start last year, beating the New York Rangers 3-1 to push their record an NHL best 4-0. Interestingly, the Devils and Golden Knights are the only other undefeated teams left, both at 3-0.
Carl Gunnarsson opened the scoring 15 seconds into the game on a goal created by Jaden Schwartz. Schwartz stole the puck in the Rangers end, drawing 3 Rangers to him. Gunnarsson recognized the overload and moved to the slot where Schwartz hit him with a good pass and Gunnarsson buried the shot past Henrik Lundqvist. Watch it here.
The lead was short lived as Mike Zibanejad tied the score a little over 2 minutes later on a wonderful pass from Pavel Buchnevich. Kevin Shattenkirk also credited with an assist on the goal but his high shot attempt was blocked and puck happened to fall to Buchnevich. Carter Hutton made an amazing push slide to seal off the post but was too late. The fact that Hutton got there as fast as he did was impressive even if it didn’t prevent the goal. Watch it here.
A little over 11 minutes later, Brayden Schenn netted the game winner, banking a shot off Lundqvist from the goal line. Schenn starts the play by holding in a clearing attempt along the wall. He gets the puck to Paul Stastny at the top of the far circle. Stastny puts a shot or pass off the end wall and Schenn banks the puck in off Lundqvist.
Jaden Schwartz added an empty net goal to seal the victory on a very patient play by Vladimir Sobotka.
Yet again, the expected goals had the Blues losing the game, this time by over a goal. Expected goals is 1-3 in the Blues’ games so far this season. Adjusted Fenwick and Corsi also had it wrong.
Dmtrij Jaskin was a bit of a surprise scratch, at least a surprise until we learned that he was late for a team meeting. Jaskin later stated that he slept through his alarm and of course said it wouldn’t happen again. I’m confused. Don’t the players have roommates? Wouldn’t you make a pact to ensure each other was up by a certain time? I would.
Some interesting statistics through the first 4 games: - The Blues are giving up the 5th most shots per game while generating the 4th least and winning, advanced stats be damned. - The Blues are 7th in power play efficiency and 13th on the penalty kill. - The key to their success has been their 7th best goals against average and 6th best goals per game. - The Blues have 6 players averaging a point per game. - Jake Allen is 11th in save percentage among goalies with 2 games or more. - Allen is 4th in high danger save percentage, according to Corsica Hockey. - Alex Pietrangelo is tied for the NHL lead in points among defensemen with Mike Green.
The Blues look to move to 5-0 tonight as they visit the Florida Panthers tonight. The Panthers are 1-1 while being 1-0 at home. The Panthers are 5th in goals per game but 3rd worst in goals against per game. They are in the bottom third in penalty kill and power play efficiency.
Their goal scoring appears to be coming from their shot generation which is a league best 42 shots per game. They also are 3rd best in shots against per game at 27.5 though that hasn’t led to an equivalent goal prevention.
The Panthers have 8 players averaging a point per game though they only have played 2 games.
As to the Blues lineup tonight, reports are that it will look like the following: Vladimir Sobotka - Paul Stastny - Vladimir Tarasenko Jaden Schwartz - Brayden Schenn - Ivan Barbashev Magnus Paajarvi - Oskar Sundqvist - Dmitrij Jaskin Scottie Upshall - Kyle Brodziak - Chris Thorburn Joel Edmundson - Alex Pietrangelo Carl Gunnarsson - Colton Parayko Vince Dunn - Robert Bortuzzo 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.