Vancouver Canucks (43-27-5) vs. St. Louis Blues (46-22-7) @ 7 p.m. CST on FS-MW.
Season Series: The Blues have yet to defeat the Canucks this season dropping the first two games of this matchup. The most recent game was on March 1st where the Blues lost 6-5 in a shootout.
The Blues play their second game of the current homestand tonight. They dropped the first game Saturday night against Columbus by a score of 4-2. The Blues played a pretty sloppy game in the neutral and offensive zones. Bad passes and poor puck decisions led to easy breakouts and odd man rushes for the Jackets. Brian Elliott gave up a soft one on the Jackets first goal but it’s tough to blame him for the second and third goals. The second goal was a powerplay goal shot through traffic and found the corner of the net. The third Jackets goal was caused by a bad break with the puck caroming off of Alex Pietrangelo’s skate right to an open Ryan Johansen. Elliott came out to challenge Johansen and slid the puck backdoor to Boone Jenner for the easy tap in. The Blues got caught puck watching and didn’t cover Jenner. The powerplay really let the team down Saturday going one for six with not much pressure for most of the time.
The Blues played well defensively allowing few shots and not many scoring chances from the inside. Kevin Shattenkirk was a little rusty in his return but I thought he looked better than I was expecting. Patrik Berglund had one of his better games in a while notching a goal and an assist. Even without the points, he was much more active in the game. Vladimir Tarasenko continues to create chances and playing at a high level. At the end of the day, the Jackets came into town and took two points in a game the Blues should have won. Give them credit but the Blues have to find a way to start scoring like they were before the last month or so.
Vancouver comes to St. Louis starting a four game road trip. They last played on Saturday losing 4-3 in overtime at home to Dallas. Their trip starts tonight here and then they head to Chicago, Nashville and Winnipeg. That’s grueling for a team in second place in the Pacific but only 3 points from missing the playoffs. They will want to start their trip off on the right foot and will be ready to play tonight at Scottrade. Eddie Lack is expected to start in goal for the Canucks.
Keys to the Game: Number one key in my opinion tonight—score a goal in the first period. This hasn’t happened in weeks for the Blues. Better puck decisions and crisper passing in the neutral and offensive zones will be key to have offensive success. The Blues still need to stop making the extra pass and shoot the puck for second chance opportunities, especially on the powerplay. Brian Elliott needs to have a bounce back performance and make the big save at key times. The Blues could get Steen and Oshie back tonight and its good news that Steen’s injury is day to day and not too serious. Defensively the Blues need to keep doing what they have been doing the last few games. Clogging the middle and stacking the blueline on opposing breakouts and keeping everything to the outside in the defensive zone. Should be a fun one, both teams need the points.
Players to Watch: Blues: David Backes—had a rough go with the puck on his stick Saturday. He will have a stronger performance. Dmitrij Jaskin—Would like to see him shoot more. Get some confidence back. Jaden Schwartz—gonna call a first period goal from him? One can hope.
Canucks: Radim Vrbata—30 goals leads the team. The Sedins—133 combined points and they are always dangerous. Janik Hansen—I always notice him in Blues/Canucks games.