Follow me on twitter Follow @stlgoalie
Last night the Blues defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 2-1 backed by the strong play of Carter Hutton, Dmitrij Jaskin, and Brayden Schenn among others. Hutton stopped 26 of 27 shots while Jaskin opened the scoring and Schenn netted the game winning goal.
Hutton has been the ultimate road warrior for the Blues. He is 3-0 this year with a 95% save percentage. Last season he had a 92.8% save percentage and a 2.00 goals against average on the road. Over his career, he has a better save percentage and goals against average on the road.
While Jaskin and Schenn will get the goals last night, a lot of other players contributed to those plays. On Jaskin’s goal, the Blues had sustained pressure for quite a while in the Hurricanes zone. Magnus Paajarvi’s interception of a Canes clearing attempt also started the goal sequence but two good pinch plays by Robert Bortuzzo led to a tired Canes line who made the poor clearing attempt that was stolen by Paajarvi. Bortuzzo won’t get a point on the play but I’m sure the coaching staff noted his role and contribution to the goal. Bortuzzo’s plays led to Jaccob Slavin and Brett Pesce to taking over a 2 minute shift and Brock McGinn, Josh Jooris and Viktor Rask to have a shift over a minute and a half. Watch the goal:
Shoot. Score. Celebrate.
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) October 28, 2017
Dmitrij Jaskin gets his first of the season. pic.twitter.com/kgxdMia3V7
Schenn scored the game winner midway through the 3rd period. Much like the first goal, this goal was keyed by the pinching in of a Blues defensemen. This time it was Vince Dunn who made the key plays to keep the puck in the Canes’ zone for an extended period of time. You won’t see it in the video below as it only shows Schenn stealing the puck from a tired Canes player before the sequence that leads to the goal. The heads up play of Dunn is what kept the puck in the offensive zone and kept the Canes from completing the change, forcing Jaccob Slavin to take an almost 2 minute shift. Watch the goal:
What a sequence. #stlblues pic.twitter.com/CBXDDD6V0R
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) October 28, 2017
Vince Dunn continues to get better and better, playing almost 19 minutes and generating 5 shots on goal, only one behind the team leader Tarasenko. Perhaps more impressive was that Dunn had a game high 4 takeaways. I’ll be thoroughly disappointed if he sits once Jay Bouwmeester comes back. He has earned his ice time.
Schenn had a great game beyond his game winning goal as he was 70% in the face-off circle and threw a game high 6 hits. Joel Edmundson and Alex Pietrangelo each blocked 6 shots.
The Blues have been very impressive this season, especially their 5-2-1 record on the road. It’s amazing but they have played about 20% of their road games already this season. They will look to remain perfect at home (something only matched by the Tampa Bay Lightning) when the Columbus Blue Jackets visit tonight.
The Blue Jackets are fresh off a 2-1 overtime victory at home against the Winnipeg Jets. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 29 of 30 shots and Cam Atkinson scored the game tying goal midway through the third period before Josh Anderson won the game in overtime.
The Blue Jackets are 7-3 on the year and on a 2 game win streak. They are 3-1 on the road. Their special teams have been feast or famine with the 3rd worst power play but the 5th best penalty kill though all of their penalty kill success has been at home as they are the worst in the NHL on the road at only 66.7%. They generate the 3rd most shots per game at 36.8 and give up the 5th fewest per game at 29.9. It’s no surprise then that they give up the 3rd fewest goals per game at 2.30. They have yet to score a power play goal on the road this season.
Artemi Panarin has enjoyed success against the Blues with 10 points in 10 games. Cam Atkinson and Brandon Dubinsky also have been good against the Blues with 13 point in 14 games and 12 points in 15 games respectively.
Joonas Korpisalo is likely to get the start. It would be his first start against the Blues. He only has 2 October starts (both this season) in his career with a 87.3% save percentage and a 3.50 goals against average. He is also a little worse on the road in his career with a 1% lower save percentage as compared to at home.
Reports suggest this will be the Blue Jackets lineup:
Artemi Panarin-Nick Foligno-Josh Anderson Boone Jenner-Brandon Dubinsky-Cam Atkinson Matt Calvert-Alexander Wennberg-Oliver Bjorkstrand Sonny Milano-Zac Dalpe-Pierre-Luc Dubois
Zach Werenski-Seth Jones Jack Johnson-David Savard Ryan Murray-Markus Nutivaara
Joonas Korpisalo
For the Blues, Jake Allen will get the start tonight, looking to reverse his historically poor play against the Blue Jackets. Allen has a disappointing 87% save percentage against the Blue Jackets and a 3.30 goals against average. He has been strong at home this season with a 2.00 goals against average and a 93.3% save percentage.
Vladimir Tarasenko has enjoyed great success against the Blue Jackets with 13 points in 11 games while Alexander Steen (26 points in 34 games), Paul Stastny (22 points in 30 games) and Schenn (12 points in 17 games) have also been good.
Colton Parayko will be looking for his 1st ever point against the Blue Jackets.
I expect the lineup to look like this tonight:
Forwards Jaden Schwartz - Brayden Schenn - Vladimir Tarasenko Vladimir Sobotka – Paul Stastny - Alexander Steen Magnus Paajarvi – Oskar Sundqvist – Beau Bennett Scottie Upshall - Kyle Brodziak – Dmitrij Jaskin
Defense Joel Edmundson - Alex Pietrangelo Carl Gunnarsson - Colton Parayko Vince Dunn - Robert Bortuzzo
Goalie Jake Allen
Ville Husso will likely serve as the backup as Carter Hutton and his wife are expecting the birth of their child any day now.
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.