Follow @stlgoalie The Blues are home for a three game home stand starting tonight against Buffalo. Blues fans may not like it but there are a number of similarities to the Sabres so far this season. Similar to the Blues, the Sabres have been struggling to score and have scored 2 or less goals in seven straight games and are 1 of 2 teams averaging less than 2 goals per game on the season, tied for the Avalanche for worst in the league at 1.93 goals per game. The Blues aren’t much better, 5th worst at 2.31 per game. The teams rank 10th and 11th in power play conversion.
Unlike the Blues, the Sabres have been good defensively, giving up the 5th fewest goals against per game at 2.33 vs the Blues 20th ranking though the Blues PK is coverting at a league best 90.6% while the Sabres are 10th.
The Sabres do not have a player who has reached 10 points yet with Kyle Okposo and Ryan O’Reilly sitting on 9 points. They also don’t have anyone with more than 6 goals yet.
Former Blues draft pick William Carrier is likely to play tonight. You might remember Carrier was part of yet another failed Blues goalie experiment trade (as I predicted). Former Blue Anders Nilsson will not see any action unless starting goalie Lehner gets hurt or gets pulled.
As to the lines tonight, expect the Blues to further experiment with lines but they are expected to look something like this: Schwartz – Stastny - Steen Fabbri - Lehtera - Tarasenko Jaskin – Berglund - Perron Upshall - Brodziak - Reaves Bouwmeester – Pietrangelo Gunnarsson – Shattenkirk Lindbohm – Parayko Allen
Coach Ken Hitchock commented that yesterday’s practice was one of, if not the best since his tenure here. I’d suggest that was likely going to be the case after the recent struggles as you had a number of people fighting to impress so as not to get sat in the press box tonight. Some say you play how you practice. Some say just because you can do it in practices doesn’t mean it will translate to a game. Blues fans are hoping for the former tonight.
For those curious, Yakupov will sit again after getting benched on Saturday. He, Brodziak and Upshall struggled mightily in the game and basically got benched. Yakupov saw 3 shifts in the 2nd period and none in the 3rd period. Of course he was on the ice for two goals against in those three shifts. Brodziak only got 2 shifts in each of the two last periods. On those 4 shifts, the Blue Jackets scored 3 goals. Upshall only got 7 shifts, two of them in mop up time and also was on the ice for 3 goals against in that stretch. did play almost 15 minutes in Nahsville while Jaskin played less than 10 minutes.
Jammer’s 9 NHL Nuggets 1) Mike Babcock’s team is almost worst in goals against per game (3.6 vs 3.63), worst in shots against per game, and has given up the most 5v5 goals. Trying to channel the 1980s Oilers? It’s not working yet. 2) Four teams are ahead of the points percentage rate of last year’s NHL best (Capitals at 73.2%). They are the Canadiens, Rangers, Blackhawks, and Penguins. 3) The Rangers are the only team scoring more than 4 goals per game, more than ¾ of a goal better than last year’s highest team at 3.23 (Stars) 4) An amazing 10 teams are more futile on the PP this season than the worst team was last season. 5) Five teams are better on the PK than the best team last year (Blues, Hurricanes, Sharks, Oilers, and Wild). 6) Six teams are better on the PP than the best team last year (Blue Jackets, Flyers, Penguins, Predators, Maple Leafs, and Lightning) 7) The Blackhawks are still killing only 2/3 of their penalties. 8) Very few people are talking about Michael Grabner but he is tied for 2nd in the NHL in goals while averaging less than 13 minutes a game. 9) Rookie D Zach Werenski has the same amount of points as Auston Matthews and Mitchell Marner while playing 2 less games.
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.