Follow @stlgoalie The Blues return home tonight to take on the Minnesota Wild who will be looking to avenge their 3-2 loss to the Blues in the opening game of the season. The Blues enjoyed a few days off after splitting their back to back road games earlier this week. The Blues have won 4 of their last 5 games overall and have earned at least a point in their last 8 home games, going 7-0-1 in that span.
The Wild have one game in hand and are only 1 point back of the Blues while both teams are nipping at the heels of the Blackhawks with games in hand. All three of the teams at the top of the Central division have similar records in their last 10 games, at home and on the road. All four teams at the top do if you count the Predators as well.
The Wild lead the league in goals against per game even though they are in the bottom half in shots against per game. Contrast that to the Blues who are in the top 5 in shots against but in the bottom half of goals against per game. Both the Wild and Blues have been excellent on the penalty kill, ranking 2nd and 5th, respectively. Both have been middle of the pack on the power play, ranking 10th and 13th.
Last night, the Wild completed a 2 game mini home sweep, besting the Penguins 6-2. Other than last night, the Wild have only been involved in close games this month with 8 games decided by one goal and 2 games decided by 2 goals but both of those games included late empty net goals, making them both essentially 1 goal games. Part of the reason for the close games has been at least in part due to the Wild’s struggles to score goals. In 8 of the 11 games, the Wild have scored 2 goals or less.
The key to the Wild breaking out of their scoring slump last night against the Penguins seems to have been converting on three power play chances. Both Charlie Coyle and Nino Niedereiter scored a pair of goals while Jonas Brodin had three assists. Given that Devan Dubnyk played last night, I wonder if Darcy Kuemper will get the start tonight. This would be fortunate for the Blues as Dubnyk has a 94.8% save percentage and a 1.58 GAA so far this season, both NHL best for goalies with at least 9 games played. Eric Staal leads the Wild with 15 points while Coyle and Niedereiter lead the team in goals with 7 each. Ryan Suter is playing well with 14 points in 20 games.
In Wednesday’s loss to the Capitals, Vladimir Tarasenko scored two goals, giving him 9 goals and 22 points in 21 games. Of course he was outdone by fellow countryman Alex Ovechkin’s hat trick as the Blues lost 4-3. Carter Hutton said after the game that he has to be better. While he wasn’t bad, Ovechkin’s first goal was stoppable (not necessarily should have been stopped but stoppable). His footwork on the 2nd goal was terrible but that likely didn’t impact whether or not the Capitals would have scored. Regardless, Jake Allen will be back in net tonight. It also sounds like Ty Rattie will be in as well Robert Bortuzzo.
As to the lines, I expect them to look like this for the most part: Schwartz – Stastny – Perron Fabbri - Lehtera - Tarasenko Jaskin – Berglund – Rattie Upshall - Brodziak - Reaves Bouwmeester – Pietrangelo Bortuzzo – Shattenkirk Gunnarsson - Parayko Allen
Jammer’s 9 NHL Nuggets 1) Sidney Crosby showing yet again this year why he is the best player in the league. Leading the NHL in goals by at least 2 and playing in about 2/3 the games. 2) Would you have guessed that David Pastrnak would be 2nd in the NHL in goals scored and goal scoring rate (anyone with at least 10 games played)? 3) Brent Burns and Shea Weber lead all defensemen in goals scored with 8. 4) Connor McDavid leads the league in points with 28 with Nikita Kucherov right on his heels. 5) 14 players are averaging at least a point per game (minimum 10 games). None of them are rookies. 6) Zach Werenksi, a 19 year old defenseman, leads all rookies in points per game and is playing over 22 minutes. Still seeing him as my Calder at this point if I had a vote. 7) The Blackhawks PK is still sub 70% but getting very close to hitting that mark (69.6%) 8) The Flames PP is still sub 10% but getting very close to hitting that mark (9.3%) 9) Carey Price has been good this season but the lack of chatter about how good Dubnyk has been feels like a snub to me.
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.