Follow @stlgoalie After starting the season 3-0, the Blues have struggled, scoring only 1 goal per game in 5 of their next 6 games. Luckily, the Blues were able to get 4 points in those 5 games. Ironically, the Blues scored more goals in their non-one goal game than the five others combined.
The scoring troubles have the Blues coaching staff rethinking and adjusting line combinations. Some may think they have players squeezing their sticks a bit tighter and perhaps looking for that extra pass. They definitely frustrated the home crowds over the last three games. In looking at certain data, I began wondering if this was just a continuation of pattern. In 2013-14, the Blues shooting percentage was 9.9%. If fell 0.5% the following year to 9.4% and then another 0.6% to 8.8% last year. The Blues current percentage is 8.4%, a decline of 0.4%. If the current percentage holds, this would be the third year in a row that they converted approximately a half of a percent less of their shots. Will the prior year’s trends continue or will the goal scoring come in a bunch and their shooting percentage rebound to around 9%? The answer remains to be seen. Also, don’t think that the scoring differential is a function on their power play as the Blues highest shooting percentage year was also the year in which their power play conversion ratio was the lowest.
Tonight, the Blues will face off against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden, looking to create a winning streak for the first time since the third game of the season. The Rangers are coming off a strong 6-1 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning and have been very good at home, posting a 5-1 record.
The Rangers may get their best player back, Chris Kreider, who has been out of the last four games with a neck injury. Kreider was averaging 1.4 points per game before he was hurt. He was also the best player in the game against the Blues earlier this season. In that earlier game, Carter Hutton was the show in the third period, preserving a Blues 3-2 victory but I doubt Hutton gets a second chance at the Rangers tonight.
As to the lines, I expect them to look like this to start: Lundqvist Klein – Skjei Holden – Staal Girardi – McDonagh Fast - Pirri – Buchnevich Miller – Hayes - Grabner Zuccarello – Zibanejad –Kreider Nash – Stepan - Vesey
Perron - Stastny - Steen Schwartz - Lehtera - Tarasenko Fabbri - Berglund - Yakupov Jaskin - Brodziak - Reaves Bouwmeester – Pietrangelo Gunnarsson – Shattenkirk Edmundson – Parayko Allen
Note this will be Bouwmeester's 1,000th NHL game.
Jammer’s 9 NHL Nuggets: 1) Craig Anderson earned NHL player of the week by posting two shutouts while learning his wife has cancer. Read more about his wife’s call to get him back into the lineup here. Here’s to her kicking her cancer’s derriere. 2) Montreal, San Jose and Minnesota are the only teams undefeated at home. 3) Edmonton is the only team undefeated on the road. 4) Speaking of shutouts, Devan Dubnyk has posted three consecutive shutouts. 5) Interesting to see the early results of the Weber/Subban trade. Weber has 3 game winning goals and the Canadiens haven’t lost in regulation and the Predators sit last in the division and have the 2nd fewest points in the entire NHL. 6) John Chayka’s Coyotes sit dead last in the NHL with only 4 points. I wonder if it has anything to do with the zero production they are getting for almost $23 million worth of cap hit (Pronger, Bolland, Datsyuk, Ribiero, Vermette, and Michalek). 7) Crosby again leads the league in points per game. 8) The Blackhawks PK improved, it’s up to 53% while the Predators’ fell to 67%. 9) The Bruins PP got more futile, lowering its success rate to 7%.
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.