Follow me on twitter Follow @stlgoalie Islander Recap The Blues wrap up their 4 game road trip tonight in Nashville. A win tonight would salvage the trip at 2-2 after the Blues 3-1 loss to the Wild on Sunday. Perhaps one of the few bright spots on Sunday was Brad Hunt who had 1 assist, 2 shots, and was +1 in 13:22 of ice time. Hunt has 2 assists in two games since being called up and has yet to be on the ice for a goal against and it looks like he will dress again tonight.
In the Predators, the Blues face a team that has lost four of their last five games though they have gone 9-2-2 at home this season. The Predators have the 5th best home save percentage, 5th best home power play success rate, and the 7th best home penalty kill success rate.
The Predators’ scoring has been spread around this season. Their top 7 point producers are all within 2 points of each other. Compare that to the Blues where Vladimir Tarasenko has almost 70% more points than 2nd on the team or 13 more. Goaltender Pekka Rinne has posted a 2.45 goals against average and a 92% save percentage so far this season.
The Blues struggles on the road (4-8-1) are easy to see as they have a league worst 86.8% save percentage and a substantially worse road penalty kill (12th in the league on the road vs 2nd at home). The only highlight has been their 2nd ranked road power play.
Coach Ken Hitchcock will again be changing up the lines, expected to start them out like this: Fabbri – Schwartz – Tarasenko Steen – Stastny – Perron Lehtera – Berglund –Yakupov Upshall – Brodziak – Reaves Bouwmeester – Pietrangelo Hunt – Shattenkirk Edmundson – Parayko Allen
Dmitrij Jaskin and Ty Rattie look to be scratched.
Allen stopped 30 of 31 for the victory in his last outing against the Predators. Vladimir Tarasenko has points in his last three games and 7 goals and 6 assists in his last 10 games. Robby Fabbri also has a three game point streak and 4 goals and 4 assists in his last 8 games. David Perron is pointless in his last 6 while Paul Stastny is pointless in 6 of his last 7 games. Will the Blues continue to sputter away from the Scottrade or will they start righting the ship tonight?
Jammer’s 9 NHL Nuggets 1) The top 5 teams in the Metropolitan division have won a combined 28 games in a row. 2) The Metropolitan 5th place Capitals would be 2nd in two division and 1st in the other division. 3) The Metropolitan division has four of the top 5 points percentage teams in the NHL. 4) The Metropolitan division has the top 4 scoring teams in the NHL (goals per game). 5) Tarasenko is now tied for 2nd in the NHL in points with Crosby, Malkin and Voracek. 6) Sidney Crosby has an incredible 21 goals in 23 games. 7) Marian Hossa is on pace for 42 goals. 8) Shattenkirk has the 5th highest points per game average among NHL defensemen. 9) Devan Dubnyk still doesn’t seem to be getting enough credit – 1.63 GAA and 94.6% save percentage.
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 donate in their name.