Follow me on twitter Follow @stlgoalie Last night the Blues defeated a very young Columbus Blue Jackets team in their home pre-season opener. Much like their game the night before, the contest was a special teams fest with 15 power plays between the two teams. The difference in the game was the Blues’ two power play goals and their ability to kill all eight of the Blue Jackets’ power plays.
Both Blues goalies posted better save percentages than their counterparts the prior night with Jake Allen stopping 84.6% of the shots he faced and Ville Husso stopping all 9 shots he faced. Of course, both goalies faced more of a junior varsity team than Dallas iced the night before. Columbus sat defensemen Seth Jones, David Savard and Zach Werenski. Forwards Alex Wennberg, Artemi Panarin, Boone Jenner, Nick Foligno, and Brandon Dubinsky did not play.
The Blues sat Robby Fabbri again after the sitting the night before when he was expected to play. Is there yet another Blues injury brewing here? For now, the reports are he was just dealing with scar tissue. Fabbri did skate in practice today. Other than Fabbri and the injured Blues, the Blues sat Carl Gunnarsson, Vladimir Sobotka, and Ivan Barbashev. Jaden Schwartz led the team with 6 shots with Vladimir Tarasenko and Alex Pietrangelo having 5 shots each. Adam Musil, Samuel Blais and Colton Parayko each had 3 shots. Tarasenko had two goals. Schwartz contributed a goal and an assist while Pietrangelo, Brayden Schenn, and Paul Stastny each had an assist. The Magnus Paajarvi, Stastny and Tarasenko line were on the ice for both Blues Jackets’ goals.
Tarasenko goal
Some things never change. #stlblues pic.twitter.com/qH4nqNuxiu
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) September 21, 2017
Schwartz goal
All by himself. While shorthanded. Atta boy, Schwartzy. #stlblues pic.twitter.com/uoadepFODa
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) September 21, 2017
Tarasenko game winning goal
Ball game. #stlblues pic.twitter.com/k2w13qqIGD
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) September 21, 2017
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.