Blues vs. Montreal Canadiens - 1/14/16 game day preview

Blues vs. Montreal Canadiens - 1/14/16 game day preview The Blues continue their home stand against their third consecutive Eastern conference team when they take on the Montreal Canadiens at the Scottrade Center at 6pm tonight. Note the early game time due to it being in national tv. In a way, both teams are having very similar seasons, struggling lately with only winning 3 of their last 10 though the Blues also had 3 OT/SO losses. Both the Blues and Canadiens have been dealing with some significant injuries and are struggling against the other conference with 11 wins and 24 losses combined. The number of games played and the Blues ability to get the loser bonus point seem to be the big point differential. The team’s goals against per game average are different by only 0.02, both rank in the top 5 in penalty killing, in the top 10 in shots per game, and only have a 0.4% face off winning percentage difference. With all of the injuries, expect the lines to start as follows: Fabbri – Lehtera – Tarasenko Upshall - Stastny – Brouwer Berglund – Backes – Rattie Jaskin – Brodziak – Reaves Edmundson – Pietrangelo Parayko - Shattenkirk Butler – Bortuzzo Elliott At first blush on the forward lines, I’m not a fan as I think there are better potential combinations there but Hitch has his ways I guess. Note that Steen is out tonight and that Mike Condon is likely to get the start in net for Montreal. It is being reported that Coach Hitchcock said they need more medical info before they know what they are dealing with in regard to Steen. In my experience, that kind of language is never a good sign. Notes from around the league: - Columbus finally won a post trade game but it was against Toronto and Nashville finally at least got a point. - Guess who is technically in first place in the Central? Hint it isn’t the team with the highest points per game average but it is the team that has won 10 in a row – Chicago. - Washington just keeps cranking out points, winning 5 in a row. They have 69 points in only 43 games. - It appears the NHL will get its wishes thanks to the trade of John Scott, giving them a reason to keep him out of the all-star game. Anyone else wonder if he was a throw in to the deal as a favor to the NHL? It’s a great day for hockey.