Follow me on twitter Follow @stlgoalie The Blues are coming off a 3-2 overtime loss against the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday even though they dominated the Knights in all areas but special teams and goaltending (not that Jake Allen played poorly). The Blues outshoot them 49-22, losing after a poor pinch attempt by Vladimir Sobotka allowed and odd man rush that was finished off by William Karlsson.
Of course the Blues lost, they won the expected goals (xGF) for battle by almost 2.5 goals. The xGF statistic is now 2-7 in correlation to actual record of Blues games this season but more on that later.
Earlier this week, the Blues sent Samuel Blais and Ivan Barbashev down to the AHL to work on their games. Barbashev had the 3rd worst adjusted corsi of any Blues player in the game and was 30% worse than all but one player. He didn’t register a shot and only won 33% of his draws. Blais wasn’t much better with 1 shot but that was offset by a giveaway. Both players have contributed very little so far this season. Hopefully the AHL will help them get their games developed further.
The Blues only replaced one of the two open roster spots with Beau Bennett. Bennett had 1 goal and 2 assists in 5 games with the AHL Chicago Wolves. His call up over say Wade Megan is a bit surprising but what is more concerning is that he practiced on the 2nd power play unit yesterday. If the Blues are looking to him to spark their 24th ranked power play, they are likely to be disappointed.
Tonight the Calgary Flames come to town fresh off a goal third period comeback in Nashville last night, defeating the Predators in a shootout. The Flames got third period goals from Matthew and Micheal Ferland before Tkachuk got the shootout winner. Mike Smith stopped 28 of 30 shots for the win. The Flames hold the special teams advantage over the Blues, ranking 18th on the power play and 12th on the penalty kill. The Blues are 24th and 28th, respectively. The Flames are averaging 0.11 more goals against per game than the Blues but scoring 0.67 goals less per game while giving up the 4th most shots per game in the league.
Johnny Gaudreau leads the flames with 12 points in 9 games though Sean Monihan leads the team in goals with 5. TJ Brodie is their version of Alex Pietrangelo, playing over 25 minutes a night and contributing 8 points. Speaking of Gaudreau, he has had the Blues number with 9 points in 9 games.
Given that Smith played last night and it went extra time, expect Eddie Lack to get the start. Lack has a 4.99 goals against average and a sub 84% save percentage this season. While Lack may have struggled in his only game this year, he has had success against the Blues, posting a 1.63 goals against average and a 93.8% save percentage in his career against them.
The rest of the Flames lineup should look like this:
Forwards Johnny Gaudreau - Sean Monahan - Micheal Ferland Matthew Tkachuk - Mikael Backlund - Michael Frolik Kris Versteeg - Matt Stajan - Troy Brouwer Sam Bennett - Mark Jankowski - Curtis Lazar
Defense Mark Giordano - Dougie Hamilton TJ Brodie - Travis Hamonic Brett Kulak - Michael Stone
Goalie Eddie Lack
Unfortunately for Blues fans and the traveling Jagrs, Jaromir Jagr is on injured reserve and will not play. Did you know that the Blues lead the league in home shooting percentage at almost 17% but are 2nd lowest in shots per game at home, trailing on the Wild? The Blues also have the 3rd best home save percentage and are 3rd on goals against per game at home. Based on the morning skate, look for the lines to start like this:
Forwards Jaden Schwartz - Brayden Schenn - Vladimir Tarasenko Vladimir Sobotka – Paul Stastny - Alexander Steen Magnus Paajarvi – Oskar Sunqvist – Beau Bennett Scottie Upshall - Kyle Brodziak – Chris Thorburn
Defense Joel Edmundson - Alex Pietrangelo Nate Prosser - Colton Parayko Vince Dunn - Robert Bortuzzo
Goalie Jake Allen
News from around the NHL: - Edmonton is 2nd in xGF differential but 28th in points per game - Dallas is 3rd in xGF differential but 18th in points per game - Tampa Bay is 29th in xGF differential but 2nd in points per game - The Islanders, Ducks and Blue Jackets all have a sub 10% power pay efficiency - Steven Stamkos and Patrice Bergeron are averaging 2 points per game - Nikita Kucherov already has 3 game winning goals - Erik Karlsson is averaging 1.5 points per game - Pekka Rinne is the only goalie with a sub 2 gaa with 4 or more games. - Stars goalie Ben Bishop had this to say after being pulled by Ken Hitchcock -"There was no reason for me to come out. I guess that's the coach's decision... I'm not very happy with the decision."
A great Halloween nugget here from one of HB members:
Hey @StLouisBlues check out Mehlville preschool student Alex's Halloween attire. Dad built a Zamboni over Alex's wheelchair. Go Blues! pic.twitter.com/sOtwiz1a4u
— Mehlville Schools (@MehlvilleSD) October 24, 2017
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.