Follow me on twitter Follow @stlgoalie Sorry for my absence earlier this week but we have been dealing with some family matters.
Over the weekend, the Blues once again proved to be master of the back to back games, beating the Wild on Saturday 6-3, winning their 12th straight in the 2nd game of back to back games and going 19-2 in their last 21 of those games.
Jaden Schwartz had 2 goals which was fitting with his parents in attendance and the Blues hosting a Be The Match (learn more here) registration event in honor of his sister Mandi.
Vladimir Tarasenko, Alexander Steen, and Colton Parayko had 2 assists each. Dmitrij Jaskin, Paul Stastny, Kyle Brodziak and Samuel Blais each scored a goal. Blais’ goal was the 1st of his NHL career. Tarasenko led the team with 7 shots while Pietrangelo was 2nd with 5.
Chris Thorburn had a memorable game through the 1st half of the game with an assist and a lengthy fight with Chris Stewart but he didn’t see the ice at all in the 2nd half of the game.
Jake Allen was closer to famine mode with an 88% save percentage on the night. Of course the 1st goal was a result of the no-call on Pietrangelo getting taken down and the awful turnover by Blais. Allen played the 2nd goal very poorly going down severely early and staying down, making it impossible for him to even attempt a save. I’m not sure he could have made one anyway but he turned a small chance at a save to zero chance. Watch it here. The wild close out there scoring with a power play goal.
After having a few days of the Blues will host the Anaheim Ducks tonight. The Ducks are struggling this season, sitting in the bottom third of teams in point percentage. They are 4-4-2 in their last 10 and 4-3-2 on the road this season. Their struggles are primarily due to their lack of goal scoring which is 5th worst in the league. They also are in the bottom third in power play efficiency. Of course, a lot of this is due to significant injuries to Ryan Getzlaf and Ryan Kesler and games missed by Sami Vatanen, Cam Fowler, and Hampus Lindholm.
Rickard Rakell leads the team in points with 18 in 22 games while Brandon Montour leads their defensemen with 13 points in 24 games. Corey Perry is second on the team in points with 17 points in 24 games. Rackell has enjoyed success against the Blues with 7 points in 9 games while the Blues have been effective at containing Corey Perry who only has 9 goals and 20 points in 39 games. It sounds like Mountour will be out with an elbow injury and Rakell will also miss the game due to injury.
In net, John Gibson has posted a 91.9% save percentage while former Blue Ryan Miller has done better at 93.5%. Against the Blues, Gibson has a 90.6% save percentage while Miller has a 91.1%. It is believed that Gibson will get the start.
For the Blues, Allen has been great against the Ducks going 5-1 with a 1.56 goals against average and a 93.9% save percentage. None of the Blues have done all that well against the Ducks with Tarasenko leading the way with 9 points in 14 games and Stastny adding 19 points in 30 games. Alex Pietrangelo will continue his search for his 1st goal against the Ducks though he does have 13 assists in 23 games.
The Blues continue to do well I team offense and defense, ranking 4th in goals for and 6th in goals against, while struggling on special teams, ranking 20th on the power play and 25th on the penalty kill.
The Blues activated Patrik Berglund off injured reserve and placed Nate Prosser on waivers with the intention of sending him to the AHL. With Berglund expected to play, you would have to assume the lines would look like this:
Forwards Jaden Schwartz - Brayden Schenn - Vladimir Tarasenko Vladimir Sobotka – Paul Stastny - Alexander Steen Dmitrij Jaskin – Patrik Berglund – Samuel Blais Scottie Upshall - Kyle Brodziak – Chris Thorburn
Defense Jay Bouwmeester - Alex Pietrangelo Joel Edmundson - Colton Parayko Vince Dunn - Robert Bortuzzo
Goalie Jake Allen
Notes from around the league: - The Central Division has 3 of the top 4 point percentage teams - The Pacific Division has 2 of the worst 3 - The Atlantic Division has 3 of the worst 5 - The Blues and the Lighting each have 2 of the top 5 points per game players - Will Butcher and Mikhail Sergachev are not getting much chatter in regards to the Calder trophy but they should be. - Sergachev has 6 goals with 4 being game winners. Compare that to Mathew Barzal who leads rookie forwards in points and has 6 goals but 0 game winners.
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.