Follow me on twitter Follow @stlgoalie The Blues defeated the New Jersey Devils 3-1 on Tuesday night. The Devils opened the scoring less than 4 minutes into the game on a goal by Blake Coleman. The picture below will illustrate the root cause of the goal as you will see both Edmundson and Bortuzzo behind the Blues net, neither of whom is in possession of the puck nor has any chance of gaining possession of the puck. With them both in no man’s land behind the net, the three 4th line forwards are left to try and defend 4 Devil players. Bortuzzo and Edmundson get back into the play in front of the net but the defensive coverage is out of sorts because of their earlier misplay. Coleman beats Brodziak to the net and puts the rebound past Allen. Allen was screened fairly well on the original shot, hindering his ability to control he rebound.
#stlblues defensive issues that led to coverage issues and a goal against in the Devils game pic.twitter.com/2s5LpPhCP8
— Jason Millen (@stlgoalie) November 11, 2017
The Blues rebounded late in the period with Vladimir Tarasenko getting the equalizer with a little over a minute left in the period. Tarasenko’s shot from the top of the left circle deflects off Devil Mirco Mueller and by Corey Schneider.
Not even a minute into the 2nd period, Jaden Schwartz gets the game-winning power play goal. Schwartz receives a beautiful backhand pass from Brayden Schenn on the back door and one-times it past Schneider.
Schenn later adds an empty net goal, giving him 3 points on the night.
Games notes: - Chris Thorburn and the 4th line were on the ice for yet another goal against - Tarsasenko also had a 3 point night and led all players with 7 shots - Vince Dunn saw more ice than Robert Bortuzzo and Carl Gunnarsson - Schenn sure looks good at center between Schwartz and Tarasenko - Speaking of that line – how about helping come up with a nickname? The Saints (St.s) or the SS Tarasenko line because they are like a battleship that has been blowing away opposing goalies? - Your line of Thorburn, Brodziak and Upshall have the lowest 3 +/- for the season among Blues who have played at least 6 games - Given the play of this 4th line, why does coach Mike Yeo seem so enamored with them, even giving them ice time with less than 4 minutes left in a 1 goal game?
Tonight, the Blues will host the Arizona Coyotes in the final game of their 3 game road trip. The Coyotes include to local NHLers, Clayton Keller and Dakota Mermis.
The Coyotes are 0-1-1 on this current road trip and 2-13-2 overall. The Coyotes are 2nd worst in goals against per game and 3rd worst in goals for per game. Both of their special teams rank in the bottom third of the NHL as do their shots for and against per game.
Keller leads the team with 17 points and 11 goals. Oliver Ekman-Larsson is second with 10 points as is Max Domi. Not a single Coyote has a positive +/-. Antti Raanta will get the start in net for the game. Against the Blues, Raanta has been slightly below his career averages.
For the Blues, they look to leap frog the Lightning for most points in the league with a win tonight. The Blues have 3 players (Schwartz, Tarasenko, and Schenn) at a point a game and Pietrangelo who only needs 2 points tonight to get to a point a game average. The top 3 are in the top 10 overall and Pietrangelo is 2nd among defensemen. The SS Tarasenko line is second in points in the NHL, trailing Tampa’s Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov and Vladislav Namesnikov. The Blues are on pace to have 5 players with more than 60 points and 6 with more than 50.
Alexander Steen and Vladimir Tarasenko are averaging a point a game against the Coyotes in 27 and 13 games, respectively. Jaden Schwartz is close with 14 points in 15 games while Alex Pietrangelo has also enjoyed success against them with 19 points in 24 games.
Carter Hutton will get the rare home start and has struggled against the Coyotes with only a 89.5% save percentage in 3 games.
I expect the lineup to look like this tonight:
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 Carl Gunnarsson - Alex Pietrangelo Joel Edmundson - Colton Parayko Vince Dunn - Robert Bortuzzo
Goalie Carter Hutton
Some nice quotes from Coyotes head coach Rick Tocchet who said that “he’s[Pietrangelo] up therefor the MVP of the league in my book… and that Blues are “a great wall team… in that “they win a lot of battles on the wall….
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.