Follow @stlgoalie After starting the season 3-0, the Blues have struggled mightily, averaging only 1 goal per game in 7 of their next 8 games. They scored more in the Calgary game than in all of the other 6 games combined. In those 8 games, they have only been able to get 6 points, the same amount they earned in the 1st three games.
The Blues scoring woes have led to their slide in the standing, going from comfortably near the division to having the potential to be tied for third depending on what Dallas and Colorado do with their games in hand. They also now have the worst differential in the division and 3rd worst in the Western conference, trailing only the worst team in the entire NHL (Coyotes who have 1 more point than the Hurricanes but have played 3 more games) and the lowest scoring team in the NHL (Canucks).
Blues fans shouldn’t expect Saturday’s 6pm CST game against the Columbus Blue Jackets to help cure the scoring woes. The Blue Jackets are only giving up only 2.11 goals per game, only 0.02 behind the Montreal Canadiens who lead the league at 2.09. The key to both the Canadiens and Blue Jackets success has been goaltending as both teams have a 93.7% save percentage even when you include empty net goals as an unsaved shot. Interestingly, the Blue Jackets are coming off a 10-0 win over the league best Canadiens last night in Columbus. Given that Sergei Bobrovsky made 30 saves last night, expect the Blues to face Curtis McElhinney in his first game of the season.
The Blue Jackets may have the most balanced scoring of any team in the league with 4 players who have 4 goals and 3 players who have 3 goals. Blues fans should pay particular attention to #8 Zach Werenski, someone who should get consideration for the Calder trophy this season. It shouldn’t be hard to notice him as he should play over 21 minutes tonight even though he is a 19 year old defenseman.
The Blues 4th ranked penalty kill will get a strong test tonight as the Blue Jackets have the league’s best power play, converting 44% of the time. The Blues struggling power play which has fallen to the bottom half of the league might have a hard time as the Blue Jackets are 3rd in the league on the penalty kill.
I expect the lines to look like this tonight: McElhinney Savard – Nutivaara Johnson – Murray Jones – Werenski Anderson - Karlsson – Calvert Gagner – Sedlak - Hartnell Atkinson – Dubinsky – Jenner Foligno – Wennberg - Saad
Perron – Berglund - Steen Schwartz - Lehtera - Tarasenko Fabbri - Stastny - Jaskin Upshall - Brodziak - Yakupov Bouwmeester – Pietrangelo Gunnarsson – Shattenkirk Edmundson – Parayko Hutton
Goals against recap from Thursday’s 6-2 loss to the Stars I thought I would take a minute to break down parts of the Blues goals against from Thursday night. If their play doesn’t improve, I’ll make this a regular part of the blog and we can really try to pinpoint patterns, something the coaching staff is likely already doing.
On the first goal, which you can see here, the Blues appear to be in decent shape as the Stars enter the zone but Jay Bouwmeester reads the play poorly and gives Tyler Seguin way too much room. Patrick Eaves makes a smart play driving the net and taking Patrik Berglund, creating both traffic and potential screen while having Seguin’s shot deflect off his body and past Allen. No real chance for Allen on this goal.
In looking at the second Stars goal, the coaching staff must be very frustrated. Watch it here. Allen makes a strong save on a Jamie Benn breakway. Jay Bouwmeester rightly tries to challenge Benn in the corner after the save but falls down. David Perron then goes to apply pressure as Jaden Schwartz looks to his left. This look should have immediately started him moving to cover Klingberg but instead he continues to drift toward the net. Alex Pietrangelo is the 4th Blue back but instead of sprinting back to Klingerberg, he sprints back to the middle of the ice, you would think almost coming back to cover Schwartz. This leaves Klingberg wide open in a danger area for the goal.
On the third Stars goal, seen here, Joel Edmunds takes a dumb penalty before Allen makes a poor read, reacting late and without a strong push to his right. Of course, the read and coverage by Pietrangelo is poor as Johns gets off a good one timer. Even if Petro and Allen, play this well, Johns may still score that goal.
Jason Spezza score the Stars 4th goal, a power play goal which can be seen here. Allen has to make a better first save on this play as the poor rebound control leads to this goal. Unfortunately, shaky rebound control has been something I have noticed over the last five games or so. It doesn’t happen all the time but seems to be happening on shots where you would not expect it, like this one.
Goal 5 was an empty netter for Klingberg while while the Stars last goal was a point shot from Jordie Benn. Patrik Berglund loses the draw cleanly and Johns moves the puck to the right point for a one timer. Alexander Steen tries to block the shot but rather just provides a screen. In addition to the screen it looks like it may have gone off Joel Edmundson. Speaking of Edmundson, he appeard to have a very rough game by the looks of it, taking some dumb penalties among his 11 PIMs and still being a -2 with only 1 shot.
Jammer’s 9 NHL Nuggets: 1) Two of the top goals against per game teams (Blue Jackets and Canadiens) give up the 2nd and 3rd most shots per game. 2) Also, the Blue Jackets and Canadiens are both are in the bottom 3rd of SAT Close % and USAT Close % yet both are in the top 3rd of point percentage. 3) Montreal is now the only team undefeated at home. 4) Friday night was goal scoring night with the winning teams averaging almost 7 goals per game. 5) Don’t look now but the Blackhawks PK is on a roll and has broken above the 60% mark. 6) The Blackhawks PK has a long way to go to catch the Wild who are killing an amazing 96.3% of their penalties. 7) The Canadiens were handed their first regular time loss last night, in a big way – 10-0. 8) Rickard Rakell is now up to 2 points per game though it’s a small sample of 3 games. 9) Impressively, Jeff Skinner and Nick Foligno are leading the league in points per game in players with at least 6 games at 1.38 and 1.33 respectively.
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.