Calgary Flames (42-28-7) vs. St. Louis Blues (46-23-7) @ 7 p.m. CST on FS-MW.
Season series: The Blues have played well this season against the Flames winning both games between the clubs. The most previous meeting was on St. Patrick’s Day a few weeks back where the Blues took the game 4-0 and Brian Elliott got his Blues shutout record.
The Blues come into the game closing out their three game homestand. They are 0-2-0 so far and have lost 7 of 11 at home. Not the time of year to be losing in your own barn. The Blues lost Monday night at home to the Canucks and the Blues play was a step in the wrong direction. The Blues put an emphasis on starting fast with the recent first period struggles. The first 10-15 min of the first was great by the team, things were looking up. Defensive breakdowns and bad changes led to many odd man rushes and breakaways. Elliott stopped the first few and then one got by him and the Blues fell apart. They looked gassed the rest of the game and the powerplay was awful once again. I thought Olli Jokinen was the best Blue by far and he really impressed me playing with Backes and Oshie. He carried that line most of the night and I think he deserves more time. Patrik Berglund played well again also even though he missed some grade A chances. Michalek is starting to look real good on defense and I like how he didn’t sugar coat the Blues play after Monday’s game. Jake Allen gets the start in goal tonight. Gunnarsson will be scratched and Bortuzzo will play.
Scary news for Blues fans after Vladimir Tarasenko left the game with an apparent knee injury. The Blues have ruled him out for tonight and listed him as day to day. Ty Rattie has been called up. I see the injury as more of a week to week injury with the way it looked and how he reacted. Hopefully he will be ready for Game 1 of the playoffs, but I would like to see him get in a game before to get back to speed if he will be ready. Alexander Steen has not been ruled out yet for tonight but I see it as doubtful he plays.
Calgary is in the middle of a five game road trip where they have taken down the Stars and Predators, but lost to the Wild. They are locking in a tight wildcard/division race with the Kings and Canucks and their total team efforts have kept them in the pack and in a playoff spot. Their coach should be win the Jack Adam’s trophy, because nobody saw the Flames making this run, especially after the loss of Mark Giordano. The Flames have points in six of seven (4-1-2) and are not gonna come to town and give the Blues points. I expect a hard fought game from the Flames as this will be a good measuring stick game for them. The Blues don’t want to give this team any more confidence that they already have.
Keys to the Game: Playing a full sixty minutes is something the Blues haven’t done in a while and it has cost them greatly. Calgary has the best goal differential in the third period in the NHL, so starting fast and finishing strong will both be equally important. Jake Allen’s play needs to be great to push Brian Elliott. They both play better when they don’t know who might get the next start. More puck battles and board races need to be won by the Blues to create offense. The team has no confidence in the offensive zone right now and all we see are harmless shots or turnovers. More support and simpler passing should help the Blues snap out of their funk. Everyone needs to play their best tonight with missing Tarasenko and likely Steen. Time to salvage some pride and go out there and take the two points and improve their effort and play moving forward.
Players to Watch: Blues: Jay Bouwmeester—He’s having a real hard time on the ice right now. He doesn’t look the same.
T.J. Oshie—Without Tarasenko and Steen, Oshie will have to play a much bigger role and perform well in this one.
Patrik Berglund—Is he starting to actually get it together for postseason or is it just a tease.
Flames: Johnny Gaudreau—Having an amazing year with 60 points.
Jonas Hiller—expected to start in goal. Hopefully the Blues get some by him early and often.
Brandon Bollig—I know he’s from STL, but that’s the only reason he will play tonight. He isn’t good enough to play in the NHL. Keep your heads up Blues.