Follow me on twitter Follow @stlgoalie The Blues kept inching their way towards the playoffs on Sunday night, rallying three different times from either one or two goals down before winning the game in overtime. The overtime winner was the first and only time the Blues had the lead.
The Blackhawks opened the scoring about 13 minutes into the game on a power play goal from rookie Alex DeBrincat after Robert Bortuzzo was sent off for slashing Patrick Kane. DeBrincat let go a well-placed, blocker side shot that beat Jake Allen. Allen had little chance to see the shot and attempt a save thanks to traffic created by John Hayden and Joel Edmundson.
DeBrincat would get his 2nd goal of the game about 6 minutes later in yet another Blues lapse in the last minute of a period, a trend that is all too disturbing and frustrating for Blues fans. On the play, Colton Parayko joins the rush in the offensive zone and Ivan Barbashev is slow to cover Parayko’s point. Barbashev’s delay allows the puck to get past him and out of the zone, creating an odd man rush for the Blackhawks. Barbashev hustles back to make the play a 3 on 2 and Alex Pietrangelo deflects the pass which causes the shot to go wide. Unfortunately, Pietrangelo follows Barbashev below the goalie while the backchecking Brayden Schenn also goes below the goal line on the other side of the net, leaving Artem Anisimov and DeBrincat alone in front.
While Blues fans likely enjoyed the 2nd come from behind overtime win in a row, the Blues still face a tough road to the playoffs. The Stars and Flames have been falling off lately but even if you assume the Blues will finish ahead of those two teams, they still have to pass one other team, likely one of the Avalanche, Ducks or Kings. The Blues have little control over those three teams as they only have one game against the Avalanche.
Tonight the Blues will be hosting the Boston Bruins. Boston is in a battle with the Lightning for 1st place in the Atlantic division, trailing by 5 points but with 2 games in hand. The Bruins have been one of the best teams on the road this season, going 20-10-4 but are 2-4 in their last six road games. Overall, they are 7-2-1 in their last 10 games.
The Bruins have been high flying this year, 3rd in the league in goals per game and 6th best on the power play. Their defense has also been strong, 3rd in the league in goals against per game and 9th best on the power play. All of these have contributed to them being one of the best teams in the league, 3rd in point percentage.
The Bruins are dealing with more than their fair share of injuries. They will be without David Backes, Patrice Bergeron, Zdeno Chara, Jake DeBrusk, Charlie McAvoy, and Rick Nash tonight. The Bruins will still have their two leading point producers, Brad Marchand (75 points in 57 games) and David Pastrnak (70 points in 71 games) and their leading defenseman, Torey Krug (52 points in 67 games).
All three of those players have enjoyed success versus the Blues. Marchand has 6 goals and 8 points in 9 games. Krug also has 8 points in 9 games while Pastrnak has 4 points in 4 games. Anton Khudobin will get the start in net which seems a bit curious to me. Khudobin has posted below average numbers against the Blues with a 90.3% save percentage and a 2.85 goals against average. Tuukka Rask has done well with a 91.9% and 2.26 goals against average. The Bruins had a day off yesterday and are off tomorrow so it isn’t a back to back schedule. Perhaps coach Cassidy is playing a hunch.
Jake Allen will be in net, looking to avenge his loss to the Bruins earlier this season. Allen played well, stopping 43 of 45 shots but he Blues couldn’t support him with enough goals. Historically, Allen has done well against the Bruins with a 94.4% save percentage.
Jaden Schwartz has done well against the Bruins with 9 points in only 8 games. Alex Pietrangelo has been on fire with 4 goals and 11 points in his last 5 games. Vladimir Tarasenko will be out again tonight.
It will be interesting to see the lineup tonight but I am betting it will start like this:
Forwards Jaden Schwartz - Brayden Schenn – Alexander Steen Vladimir Sobotka - Kyle Brodziak – Patrik Berglund Dmitrij Jaskin – Ivan Barbashev – Tage Thompson Nikita Soshnikov – Oskar Sundqvist – Chris Thorburn
Defense Carl Gunnarsson - Alex Pietrangelo Vince Dunn - Colton Parayko Joel Edmundson – Robert Bortuzzo Goalie Jake Allen
In the Western conference, the Sharks, Ducks, Kings, Flames, Wild, Avalanche, Stars and Blues are all fighting for five playoff spots. The Blues now sit 6th in point percentage but are still essentially 2 points out if you use existing point percentage as your projection model.
Games to watch today – 8:30pm CST – Flames host the Ducks
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.