The Blues return home to the Scottrade Center battered, bruised and with a number of foggy heads to take on the New Jersey Devils at 7pm tonight. The west coast trip took a toll on the Blues roster, landing 5 people either in the press box or on injured reserve. Goaltender Jake Allen (lower body – knee?), Magnus Paajarvi (upper body – concussion/neck and maybe wrist/hand?), Jay Bouwmeester (upper body - concussion?), and Carl Gunnarsson (upper body) all are week to week as a result of their injuries sustained in California. Paul Stastny is day to day (upper body – face) and will not play tonight. While Stastny reports that his head feels foggy, he claims he does not have a concussion. Are those claims in and of themselves a sign of a concussion? Blues fans hope not. The Blues called up Ty Rattie and Jordan Binnington on an emergency basis to help fill out the roster a little.
Much like the Blues, the Devils are dealing with significant injuries with Patrick Elias, Mike Cammalleri and more all on injured reserve. They have a total of 6 players in injured reserve. With Elias and Cammalleri out, Adam Henrique becomes the most accomplished Devis against the Blues with 2 goals in 5 games. With all of the injuries, the Devils sit in the middle of the NHl, 16th in points per game. Their record is hampered by the lack of scoring (29th goals per game) and helped by their defensive play (4th in goals against per game) and their strong penalty kill efficiency which sits 7th best at 82.7%.
The Blues play in the last two games of the west coast trip was strong, especially considering the short handed nature of the bench. Blues fans I know want to see a lot of minutes shifted to Jaskin, Fabbri, and Parayko and are hoping that they will continue to grow and perform. Fabbri and Parayko have been seeing some OT minutes over the last couple of games which many take to be a good for their development.
As to the veterans, expect Brian Elliott to get all of the remaining starts before the all star break. He brings a 2.71 GAA and a 88.9% save percentage against the Devils. Alexander Steen has the most goals against the Devils with 7 in 19 games while Jori Lehtera has the best points per game average with 3 assists in 3 games.
With all of the injuries, expect the lines to start as follows: Upshall - Steen – Brouwer Fabbri – Lehtera – Tarasenko Berglund – Backes – Rattie Jaskin – Brodziak – Reaves Shattenkirk – Pietrangelo Butler - Parayko Edmundson – Bortuzzo Elliott
Notes from around the league: - In odd news, Nashville and Arizona are still winless since their blockbuster trade. - Good guy but arch enemy Joel Quenneville signed a 3 year extension in Chicago. Quenneville is the new Bowman? - The Panthers have taken 25 of their last 26 points. Washington has taken 17 of their last 20. - Speaking of the Panthers, sounds like a Sedin Sisters comment indirectly caused quite a scrum after the OT winner. Compared to some of the smack talk I have heard and that has been shared with me, that seems very mild to have caused such a ruckus. - Anyone else notice that the Hawks have now won 6 in a row and taking 16 of 20 possible points? - Four of the top 7 points per game teams are still from the Central.
It’s a great day for hockey.