Follow @stlgoalie The Blues completed a successful three game home sweep on Saturday night when they beat the Predators 3-1, accounting for Pekka Rinne’s only loss in his last six games. The Blues now head out on a short two game road trip, playing the Boston Bruins tonight and the Washington Capitals tomorrow before coming back to St. Louis for a five game home stand.
Boston sits in third place in the Atlantic Division but sporting the best record of the division in their last 10 games. They have won four of their last five and six of their last eight with their two losses coming by one goal. They have been hot on home ice, winning three in a row.
The Blues on the other hand are in 2nd place in the Central Division and look to close to within 3 points of the division leading Blackhawks with a win tonight. While the Blues have won their last three games, they have lost four road games in a row.
The Blues and Bruins have shared some similarities this season. They are separated by only 0.03 goals in goals per game average and 0.4 shots against per game. The Bruins are 5th in the league in goals against per game and 3rd in shots per game. The Blues on the other hand are 3rd in shots against per game.
The Bruins have gotten all-star goaltending from Tukka Rask. Rask has an impressive 1.46 GAA and a 94.6% save percentage. Good thing, as their backup goalies have been struggling mightily with all of them having a GAA over 4 and save percentages under 86%. Offensively, the Bruins have been lead by Brad Marchand who has 6 goals and 11 assists in 18 games and David Pastrnak who has 10 goals and 4 assists in 14 games. Luckily for the Blues, Pastrnak will again miss tonight’s game due to injury. Former Blue David Backes has 3 goals and 4 assists in 13 games.
Much seems to being made about Backes facing his former team tonight but I think the much more emotional night for Backes will be January 10th when he returns to St. Louis. No matter how you feel about Backes play, it’s hard to argue that he didn’t put everything into doing what he thought would make the Blues a better team while he was here. None of the Bruins defensemen have more than six points. Is tonight’s game an audition for Kevin Shattenkirk?
Coach Ken Hitchcock stated he was still debating between Yakupov and Rattie for tonight. As to the lines, I expect them to look like this for the most part: Schwartz – Stastny – Perron Fabbri - Lehtera - Tarasenko Jaskin – Berglund – Rattie/Yakupov Upshall - Brodziak - Reaves Bouwmeester – Pietrangelo Gunnarsson – Shattenkirk Parayko - Bortuzzo Allen
Jammer’s 9 NHL Nuggets 1) Connor McDavid is now leading the league in scoring though Sidney Crosby and Nikita Kucherov have a better points per game pace. 2) Crosby leads the league in goals even though he has only played 13 games. 3) David Pastrnak is 6th in goals, only 2 behind even though he has only played 14 games. 4) No defensemen is in the top 25 in scoring. 5) Zach Weresnki still is in Calder position, third in the rookie scoring, playing over 22 minutes as a teen defenseman. 6) Jeff Carter leads the league in game winning goals with 5. 2nd place is 40% back. 7) A power play specialist in the NHL? Matt Moulson has 6 of his 7 goals and 8 of his 9 points on the power play. 8) We are almost ¼ through the season and the Blackhawks PK is still atrocious, below 69%. 9) The Flames and Senators are also atrocious, only the PP side with both teams below 10%.
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.