Follow @stlgoalie When the Blues host the Boston Bruins tonight for Hull & Oates night at 7pm at the Scottrade Center, they will be looking to tie the Dallas Stars yet again for the division and conference lead. The Bruins on the other hand are perilously close to free falling out of a playoff spot. The game pits two teams on very different paths. The Blues have won 5 in a row and 8 of their last 10, only bettered by the Penguins 9 wins. The Bruins on the other hand have only won 3, only better than Columbus and Vancouver. The Red Wings have also been faltering but not as bad as the Bruins and sit only 1 point behind the Bruins for the last guaranteed playoff spot in the Atlantic. As a result, the Blues will be facing a desperate team who has lost a lot of close games recently (4 of their last 7 losses are 1 goal losses) and has been brilliant on the road with 24 wins, 3rd best in the league. The Blues look to notch their 24th home win of the year.
Tukka Rask has consistently played well against the Blues with poor results, going 2-1-3 even though he has a 1.80 GAA and 93.7% save percentage. Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci and Torey Krug have combined for 8 goals and 15 assists in 31 games. Tonight will be yet another homecoming for former Blue, General Lee Stempniak.
The Blues had a heck of a March going 10-2-0 with their only losses being in western Canada, starting and ending the month with 5 game winning streaks. Magnus Paajarvi looks to get the first shot at replacing injured Robby Fabbri with Paul Stastny and Troy Brouwer. Speaking of injuries, Fabbri, Jay Bouwmeester and Carl Gunnarsson all skated today which seems to confirm Coach Hitchcock’s day to day status on them all. Steve Ott and Dimitri Jaskin are expected to be the healthy scratches tonight.
Brian Elliott and his league leading 1.92 GAA and 93.5% save percentage get the start tonight even though he has had questionable results against the Bruins with a 3-6-3 record and a slightly below 90% save percentage. Jake Allen on the other hand has a perfect 2-0 record, 98.3% save percentage and a 0.50 GAA against the Bruins. Any questions on who the current Blues number one goalie is?
My guess for the Blues lines are as follows: Schwartz –Lehtera – Tarasenko Steen - Berglund – Backes Paajarvi – Stastny -Brouwer Upshall – Brodziak – Reaves Edmundson – Pietrangelo Shattenkirk - Parayko Lindbohm - Bortuzzo Elliott
Notes from around the league: - The Ducks got dealt a number of relatively severe blows this week – Perron out 4-6 weeks, Andersen with a concussion and Rakell out too. - The Islanders also have a number of significant injuries – Halak and now Harmonic out for the rest of the regular season. - The Flyers signed Ray Emery again for the rest of the regular season. He is not playoff eligible. - Hitchcock is coaching his 1,400th NHL game tonight. Congrats. - Stick tap to Jokinen, Trocheck, and Gudbranson for this - The best rookie most people have never heard of is still the Hurricane’s Jacob Slavin. - Rumor has it that the Hull & Oats crowd at the Pageant last night started a Keenan Stinks chant. Good for them, lol.
It’s a great day for hockey.