Follow me on twitter Follow @stlgoalie On Thursday night the Blues won their third in a row, scoring a 2-1 victory over the Western Conference leading Vegas Golden Knights. The game lived up to the pre-game hype as it was well played with a quick pace and excellent goaltending. Marc-Andre Fleury added to his strong play against the Blues, stopping 37 of 39 shots while Carter Hutton continued his league leading play, stopping 32 of 33 shots.
The Blues opened the scoring midway through the 1st period on a shot by Alexander Steen. Steen used Knights defensemen Shea Theodore as a screen on the play, making it very difficult for Fleury to pick up the shot. Watch it here.
They say imitation is the greatest form of flattery and the Knights imitated the Blues 1st goal, scoring midway through the 2nd period on a shot by Erik Haula where Haula used Jay Bouwmeester as a screen on the play, making it very hard for Hutton to pick up the shot. Watch it here.
Around 6 minutes into the 3rd period, Paul Stastny scored the game winner. Colton Parayko drives down the right wing, putting a shot into Fleury’s pad. The rebound goes to Stastny who directs a shot toward the net. The shot appears magically settles on the goal line near the far post with only Stastny realizing where the puck is sitting, allowing him to push the puck into the net uncontested. Watch it here.
A few notes that I found interesting after the game: - Former Blues draft pick William Carrier was -2 in the game - Vladimir Tarasenko played less than 4 minutes in the 3rd period yet still led all players in shots (coach Yeo delivering a message?) - Dmitirj Jaskin had a strong game, engaging well with 4 shots, 3 hits and 2 takeaways. - People will remember Steen’s goal but his better plays were two crucial back-checks where he broke up two very dangerous plays in the latter third of the 3rd period. - Robert Bortuzzo played extremely well, defending a number of odd man rushes perfectly and blocking 4 shots. - In fact, my top 5 Blues were Hutton, Steen, Stastny, Jaskin and Bortuzzo.
The Blues headed to Philadelphia and till take on the Flyers at noon today. The Flyers are right in the middle of the league in goals for per game and goals against per game, ranked 16th and 15th respectively. Their power play ranks 13th while their penalty kill is only 29th. The Flyers are only 9-8-4 at home and 5-4-1 in their last 10 games and sit on the outside looking in at the playoffs.
Both the Flyers and the Blues will be in the 1st game of back to backs with the Flyers hosting Buffalo tomorrow. In net, Brian Elliott has been superb against the Blues and the Sabres posting a 92.1% save percentage against the Blues and a 93.9% against the Sabres. Michal Neuvirth has been strong against the Blues with a 91.5% save percentage but weak against the Sabres with an 89.6% save percentage. Flyers coach Dave Hakstol will have a tough decision to make. Does he let Elliott go against his former team or does he allow Neuvirth face the team he has had more success against?
Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek are leading the Flyers with 48 points each in 40 games. Sean Couterier leads the team in goals with 19 while Shayne Gostisbehere leads their defensemen with 30 points in 37 games.
Gostisbehere has enjoyed success against the Blues with 3 points in 3 games. Giroux has 8 points in 13 games while Wayne Simmonds has 13 points in 21 games.
Much like the Flyers goaltending dilemma, it will be interesting to see how coach Mike Yeo deploys the Blues’ goalies this weekend. Carter Hutton has been on fire and now leads the NHL in goals against average and save percentage at 1.64 and 94.7% respectively. Oddly enough Hutton has started more games than Jake Allen against both Washington and Philadelphia. Hutton has been strong against the Flyers with a 92.1% save percentage and a 1.95 goals against average and poor against the Capitals with an 86.1% save percentage and a 3.66 goals against average. Jake Allen has been more consistent against both teams with a 90.6% save percentage against the Flyers and 90.5% against the Capitals. I’m betting Hutton gets the nod today and Allen tomorrow.
Paul Stastny has enjoyed success against the Flyers, with 4 goals and 12 points in 15 games. Vladimir Tarasenko and Alex Pietrangelo have both struggled against the Flyers with no goals and only 4 assists in 19 combined games.
Samuel Blais was taken off injured reserve but sent down to San Antonio of the AHL. Jake Walman was recalled and Vince Dunn is not on the road trip, suggesting Dunn may be put on IR which has me concerned. If you remember, Dunn was a healthy scratch before becoming “sick…. I hope him being sick isn’t some sort of serious medical condition. We’ve seen this happen with other teams over the last few years (Brian Boyle, Kris Letang, Marian Hossa, Kyle Okposo, etc).
As to the lines today, I expect them to start like this:
Forwards Scottie Upshall - Brayden Schenn – Vladimir Tarasenko Vladimir Sobotka - Paul Stastny – Tage Thompson Patrik Berglund – Kyle Brodziak - Alexander Steen Dmitrij Jaskin - Ivan Barbashev – Magnus Paajarvi
Defense Jay Bouwmeester - Alex Pietrangelo Joel Edmundson - Colton Parayko Carl Gunnarsson - Robert Bortuzzo
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.