Follow me on twitter Follow @stlgoalie Sorry for my absence but we were dealing with some family matters. I expect I will be around more regularly now.
Tonight the Blues host the Dallas Stars. The Stars have had an odd schedule since November 30th. Since then, they have alternated home and road games and will do so until December 13th. Out of 7 games over 2 weeks, they will have alternated, playing 4 road games and 3 home games. The Stars dropped their last game, losing 5-2 against the Predators, but had won 5 in a row prior to the loss and have gone 7-3 in their last 10 games.
Everyone expected the Stars to be able to score goals though I bet people expected them to be higher than 11th in the league. They also sit 11th in goals against per game. Their power play is ranked 14th while their penalty kill is ranked 7th considerably better than the Blues 23rd and 22nd rankings. The Stars will look to take advantage of the Blues in the face-off circle much like the Canadiens did as the Stars are 2nd best in the NHL while the Blues only rank 23rd.
As you would expect, Tyler Seguin, Alexander Radulov, and Jamie Benn lead the stars in scoring with 27, 25 and 24 points respectively. What you may not realize is that John Klingberg also has 24 points and is leading all NHL defensemen. Alex Pietrangelo has fallen to 5th with 21 points. Radek Faksa has been on fire lately with 5 goals and 2 assists in his last 5 games.
Ben Bishop is relatively struggling in the bottom 3rd of goalies with at least 11 games with a 90% save percentage. Interestingly, Jake Allen and Brian Elliott are tied with him at 90%.
Against the Blues, Benn has fared well with 29 points in 31 games with Seguin lagging a bit with 17 points in 21 games and Jason Spezza on his heels with 17 points in 22 games. Klingberg has also done well with 7 points in 12 games. Bishop has not done well, going 1-5-1 with a 90.2% save percentage but this won’t matter as he is out and Kari Lehtonen will get the start with St. Louisan Mike McKenna serving as backup. Lehtonen is 13-7-3 against the Blues with a 91.7% save percentage.
It sounds like Stars coach Ken Hitchcock may bench Antoine Roussel tonight which would be a good idea in my humble opinion. If he plays, I’d say the probability of him taking penalties is high. Speaking of former Blues coach Hitchcock, he had some good quotes today saying “there won’t be any more tributes. I hope the booing starts pretty quickly.… He also visited with a few of the Blues players, commenting that “the crazy uncle came back….
The Blues will be playing 5 of their next 6 games at home with the only road game being an afternoon tilt in Detroit on Saturday. It sounds as if Ville Husso has been called up to back up Jake Allen though I’m not sure why as of now.
Paul Stastny has enjoyed the most success against the Stars with 45 points in 42 games. Vladimir Tarasenko is next with 16 points and 11 goals in 19 games while Brayden Schenn has 8 points in 10 games.
After going 5 games without a point, Alex Pietrangelo looks to build on the assist he got Tuesday night as he faces the Stars, a team where he has earned 25 points in only 30 games.
Jake Allen has enjoyed a lot of success going 7-2 against the Stars while posting a 91.8% save percentage.
Expect the lines to start like this: Forwards Jaden Schwartz - Brayden Schenn - Alexander Steen Vladimir Sobotka – Paul Stastny - Vladimir Tarasenko Magnus Paajarvi – Patrik Berglund – Dmitrij Jaskin Scottie Upshall - Kyle Brodziak – Chris Thorburn
Defense Jay Bouwmeester - Alex Pietrangelo Joel Edmundson - Colton Parayko Carl Gunnarsson - Robert Bortuzzo
Goalie Jake Allen
It’s Barkin’ with the Blues night tonight so look for rescue dogs on the main concourse and special charity items being auctioned or sold.
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.