EK's note: We are pleased to welcome Corey Harvey to our team of writers. The timing is perfect as the Blues are poised for a deep run it appears...We look forward to Mr. Harvey's solid, consistent St. Louis Blues content going forward.
Philadelphia Flyers (28-27-13) vs. St. Louis Blues (42-19-5) at 7 p.m. CST on FS-MW.
Season Series: This will be the second and final meeting of the season between these two clubs. The teams met one week ago in Philly where the Blues led 1-0 after two periods but failed to hold on and lost the game 3-1.
The Blues are coming off a wild 5-4 win over Winnipeg at home on Tuesday. The second period by the Blues might have been their best period of hockey in quite some time. Scoring on their first three shots of the period and 4 straight overall ended Winnipeg goalie Michael Hutchinson’s night. In my opinion, Steve Ott played his best game as a Blue. He was a force on the forecheck and even scored a pretty goal. The passing play on Jori Lehtera’s goal was outstanding. 4-1 after two periods and the game looked smooth sailing. Winnipeg couldn’t generate anything offensively in the second and only had four 5v5 shots for the game after two. That is with three probable top-4 defensemen out. Then the third period started. The Blues went to sleep for once again two minutes and just like that, Winnipeg is back in the game with two goals in 11 seconds. The Blues then had plenty of chances on their powerplays including a lengthy 5 on 3. I thought the PP looked much improved ( minus the ridiculous shorty given up to tie the game at 4-4) even though no pucks found the back of the net. Pavelec was outstanding in relief of Hutchinson and really kept the Jets in the game. That is until Barrett Jackman decided to send a floater from inside the red line towards Pavelec. Somehow, he whiffed on the puck and it found the top corner late in the contest. I don’t know exactly what happened there, but my guess would be he lost the puck in the crowd. I will take it. Two points, on to the next game.
Hitch’s postgame interview was much more surprising than I was expecting. I was expecting him to be pretty PO’d about the blown lead. He was much more upbeat and said that he said be played great in both the second and the third. I tend to agree with him besides the opening two minutes of the third period when the Blues believed the game was already over. Hitch also said we could have scored eight times in the third if it wasn’t for Pavelec. That’s obviously exaggerated but three or four no question. “Justice…—the answer Hitch gave on his thoughts on the winning goal.
The Flyers come to town with their playoff hopes all but lost. After beating the Blues last week, they have lost three straight and are now 9 points back of a wildcard spot. They lost a close one at home (2-1) to Dallas on Tuesday. Flyers management still believes that they can make it, so I would expect them to come out flying and give a solid sixty minute effort. Last week’s game got very heated at times and I would expect no different outcome in this one. Ray Emery is expected to start after Steve Mason got the win last week. His numbers are not very good this season (3.15 GAA, .893 SV%).
Keys to the Game: “Weathering the Storm…—the phrase that is always stated in hockey to describe the play a home team needs to have in the first 10 or so minutes of a game. I am getting very sick of hearing this. The Blues need to CREATE the storm tonight at home against the Flyers. The offense is starting the click again and scoring first in this one is a must. I think the streak is up to nine home games in a row giving up the first goal. The Blues should get Jay Bouwmeester and Olli Jokinen back tonight, a game after originally expected. It is unclear who they will replace in the lineup, but I would expect Bortuzzo stays in and Butler will sit. Bortuzzo is adjusting well and you can already tell what he brings. He’s obviously being physical, but he’s also been impressive holding pucks in the offensive zone and his shots are always on target. The Blues learned last week that you can’t play 50 minutes against this team, so a full game effort and execution will be needed. Brian Elliott will start his fourth straight after a sub par game on Tuesday. Keeping Wayne Simmonds away from the crease was a key to the game I wrote last week. They will have to do a better job tonight that they did last week. Should be a fun one and hopefully the goals ( on offense) keep coming.
Players to Watch:
Blues: Vladimir Tarasenko—will we see a show on his bobblehead night? Brian Elliott—bounce back game for Moose. He’s a true competitor. Dmitrij Jaskin—been a little quiet the last few. He’s poised for a big game down low. Flyers: Ray Emery—Are his numbers a result of his play or the group in front of him? Jakub Voracek—leads team with 67 points Zac Rinaldo—keep your heads up Blues—shenanigans shenanigans
--Corey Harvey