Follow me on twitter Follow @stlgoalie The Blues got back to their winning ways on Thursday, defeating the Edmonton Oilers 4-1.
Vladimir Sobotka opened the scoring with less than 5 minutes left in the 1st period with a short-handed goal that was gifted to him by Cam Talbot and Oscar Klefbom who misread each other or miscommunicated, allowing the puck to pop into the front of the net as Talbot was attempting to set it up for Klefbom behind the net. The goal reminded me of Alexander Steen’s goal against Los Angeles in the playoffs a few years ago. Watch it here.
The lead was short lived as Ryan Strome scored on the power play less than 30 seconds later. Robert Bortuzzo made a valiant effort but a poor play trying to block the shot. He wasn’t quick enough to get properly into the lane but his movement likely made it extremely difficult for Jake Allen to pick up the well place shot leaving Allen with little chance to make a save.
A little over 7 minutes into the 2nd period, Alexander Steen’s persistence paid off in front of the net with a power play goal. You can watch it here.
Brayden Schenn added two goals in the third period, less than 2 minutes apart. The first was a quality shot coming on a 2 on 1 break with Scottie Upshall. Watch it here. The second goal was a tic tac toe play what Schenn easily buries into the net because of a brilliant one-touch pass.
Goal. Celly. Love it. #stlblues pic.twitter.com/M1aIfczNSk
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) November 17, 2017
The feast or famine continued for Allen with him feasting at a 96.7% save percentage.
Tonight the Blues are in Vancouver taking on the Canucks. While the Canucks have surprised a lot of people this season with their 9-8-2 record, they have struggled at home going 3-5-2.
The Canucks are the 5th lowest scoring team in the NHL though they are 10th in goals against per game. They are 24th in the league on the power play and also 24th on the penalty kill. They generate the 3rd fewest shots per game. This isn’t your Sedins’ Canucks. This Canucks team is led by Brock Boesser, Bo Borvat and Sven Baertschi who have combined for 20 goals and 24 assists in 54 combined games.
It appears Anders Nilsson will start against his former team even though he has a sub 81% save percentage against the Blues. Jacob Markstrom has faired better against the Blues, posting a 86.5% save percentage against the Blues. It will be the 1st time Brock Boeser has faced the Blues. The Sedins have averaged about 0.7 points per game against the Blues. Brandon Sutter has average 0.6 points per game against the Blues.
For the Blues, I expect Jake Allen to get the start, looking to improve on his career 89.3% save percentage against the Canucks. Both Paul Stastny and Vladimir Tarasenko have been red hot against the Canucks. Stastny has 9 points in his last 8 games and Tarasenko has 8 points in his last 6 games. Steen also has 8 points in his last 8 games against the Canucks.
I’m guessing the lines might look like this:
Forwards Jaden Schwartz - Brayden Schenn - Vladimir Tarasenko Vladimir Sobotka – Paul Stastny - Alexander Steen Magnus Paajarvi – Oskar Sundqvist – Dmitrij Jaskin Scottie Upshall - Kyle Brodziak – Chris Thorburn
Defense Joel Edmundson - Alex Pietrangelo Carl Gunnarsson - Colton Parayko Vince Dunn - Robert Bortuzzo
Goalie 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.