The Blues take on the Ottawa Senators at 7pm CST at the Scottrade Center. This is the second consecutive game against an Eastern Conference Canadian team. The Senators are coming off a tough 3-0 loss to the Blackhawks last night. There likely isn’t much of a correlation but the Blues started 6-1 against Canadian teams and are just 2-2 in their last 4 games.
The Senators have been falling in the standings, only getting 7 points in their last 10 games and having lost 3 games in a row. Special teams have not been aiding the Senators as their penalty killing trails only Calgary in lack of efficiency (76.5%) and their power play efficiency is in the bottom third of the league at 22nd. They also give up the most shots against per game in the league at 33.7.
Bobby Ryan has dominated the Blues scoring 15 goals and 12 assists in only 22 games. Erick Karlsson has struggled against the Blues with only 4 points in 7 games making a point per game average of 0.57 versus his career average of 0.79. Mike Zibanejad has also enjoyed success in a small sample size with 1 goal and 3 assists in 3 games. Craig Anderson has had middle of the road numbers against the Blues with a 3.29 GAA and a 90.4% save percentage.
The Blues want to halt their losing streak at 2 games. Expect Brian Elliott to get the start given his strong numbers against the Senators with a 1.65 GAA and a 94.2% save percentage. Most of the Blues players have middling numbers against the Senators with Stastny leading the way with 1 goal and 4 assists in 6 games and Alex Pietrangelo having 5 assists in 6 games. It will be interesting to see how Patrik Berglund plays as he gets more used to game action.
Notes from around the league: - Don’t look now but the Panthers have won 9 in a row and are 4th in the league in points per game.
- The Capitals are almost as hot as the Panthers with 17 points in their last 10 games (18 for the Panthers)
- Four of the top 8 points per game teams are from the Central (Stars, Hawks, Wild and Blues)
- In the Pacific, the only team to have a positive goal differential is the Kings. Next best is -5 (sharks), next best is -15. Ouch.
it’s a great day for hockey.