Follow @stlgoalie After defeating the Edmonton Oilers 7-2 on Tuesday, the Blues defeated the Detroit Red Wings 5-2. The game didn’t start out well with the Red Wings taking an early lead just over two minutes into the game.
Watch how Robert Thomas and Tyler Bozak both apply poor forecheck angles, effectively defending the same space.
The Blues would draw even with Oskar Sundqvist’s 14th goal of the season. The play starts with a good dump in by David Perron and is elevated by an aggressive puck retrieval by Del Zotto and then an even better pass to Sundqvist who roofs a brilliant shot.
Pat Maroon would extend the lead back to two when he scored for the fourth game in a row. Maroon hunts Thomas’s 1st kick pass down in front of the net but his shot is stopped but the rebound goes to Thomas while Maroon circles the net. Thomas makes a brilliant skate pass to Maroon at the side of the net for the easy goal.
This 1st kick pass by Thomas on the Robert Bortuzzo shot is brilliant and was missed by most as they only saw his 2nd kick pass.
The Blues look to remain perfect on their home stand when they host the NHL’s best, the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Lighting have an incredible 120 points in 75 games, an incredible 80% point percentage. The Lightning have already clinched the President’s Trophy. The phrase goes that defense wins championships but it appears offense wins President’s Trophies as the Lighting score a league best 3.89 goals per game and a league best 29.5% power play conversion rate. They aren’t too shabby in their own end, ranking 5th in goals against per game and lead the league in penalty killing efficiency.
The Lightning are 27-7-2 on the road, have won seven games in a row and nine of their last ten, and have won ten of their last eleven road games. They will be looking to avenge their early February 1-0 overtime loss to the Blues.
Nikita Kucherov is having an Art Ross trophy, Hart Memorial trophy, and Ted Lindsay award type season with 37 goals and 120 points in 75 games, including 7 game winning goals. Brayden Point is having a big contract season with 39 goals and 89 points in 73 games. Steven Stamkos is also on an above a point per game pace with 88 points in 75 games. Victor Hedman leads the defense with 52 points in 67 games.
Of course, to make things even more challenging for other teams, all-world Andrei Vasilevskiy mans the lightning net. Vasilevsky is sporting a 93% save percentage and a 2.29 goals against average while going 36-8-4. Vasilevskiy’s road performance hasn’t been quite as good as at home but it still is very good with a 92.5% save percentage and a 2.50 goals against average.
Against the Blues, Vasilievskiy has been great, going 3-0-1 with a 94.6% save percentage and a 1.68 goals against average. Kucherov only has 6 points in 9 game whereas Stamkos has 11 points in 13 games.
For the Blues, Vladimir Tarasenko has enjoyed success against the Lightning with 7 goals and 10 points in 11 games. David Perron has 8 points in 11 games while Tyler Bozak has 24 points in 32 games.
The Blues have won nine of their last eleven home games and will be looking to match their road victory total of 20 tonight.
Don’t expect the lineup to change. It should start like this: Schenn-O'Reilly-Tarasenko Maroon-Bozak-Thomas Schwartz-Sundqvist-Perron Sanford-Barbashev-Steen Dunn-Pietrangelo Bouwmeester-Parayko Del Zotto-Bortuzzo Binngton
With a Blues win and a Nashville regulation loss, the Blues would be within two points of the Predators with a game in hand. Also with a win tonight, the Blues would be sending the NHL a message, going 2-0 against a team that likely won't even have 18 losses for the year./
On the injury front, it sounds like Joel Edmundson regressed a bit as he was sore after practice and Carl Gunnarsson is still progressing and getting closer to returning.
NHL Champions for Charity We’ve gotten some traction on the charity wager among the Central Division bloggers. One charity I’ll highlight is Meagan’s Walk http://meaganswalk.com from your Blackhawk’s Blogger Justin Lowe. Meagan’s Walk seeks to bring hope and awareness to cancerous brain tumors, the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in children and young people.
It’s a great day for hockey.