Injury info and Blues vs. Coyotes 4/4/16 Game Day Preview
The Blues were successful in defeating the Colorado Avalanche last night and pulling within 2 points of the first place Dallas Stars with tonight’s game in hand. Unfortunately, the injury bug was successful in claiming two more Blues victims, David Backes and Jake Allen. As I first noted on twitter at 6:20pm last night, Allen appeared to hurt himself with about 3:20 left in the first period. It appears Anders Nilsson and I both noticed that “Allen stayed down longer… after he got hurt. How a goalie recovers from a shot/save can give you information on a goalie. In this case, the slower, more deliberate and labored recovery was a sign to me that something was wrong. Is it a knee? Is it a groin? I’m not sure but the team is stating that he will be shut down for the remainder of the regular season.
The team also has announced that Backes will be shut down for the rest of the regular season. He did make a bit of an awkward move in turning to the boards before setting up Troy Brouwer for an empty net goal but it the play didn’t look that bad, though neither did the play that appeared to injure Allen. Perhaps both players tweaked existing issues.
Reports are that Robby Fabbri and Jay Bouwmeester skated hard today along with Petteri Lindbohm and Ryan Reaves. Some are speculating that this is a sign that Fabbri and Bouwmeester might play tonight however their participation in a hard skate may just be a case of getting in a good workout and test of the injury knowing they would have the night off. Steve Ott did not skate today which may mean he is resting to be in the lineup tonight or maybe suffered a setback.
The rest of the MASH 63103 will take on the Arizona Coyotes at 7pm at the Scottrade Center. The Coytoes come into town off a surprising 3-0 win over the league’s best, Washington Capitals and are winners of 6 of their last 10. From St. Louis, the Coyotes will head to Chicago to face the Blackhawks creating a very challenging 3 game stretch. With a win tonight, the Blues can move their 1st round home ice magic number to 1 point and can move into a tie with the Stars for most points in the Western Conference. Mike Smith is expected to get the start for the Coyotes. While Smith has struggled against the Blues with a 4-11 record and a sub 89% save percentage, Louis Domingue performed poorly in his only game against the Blues giving up 5 goals in less than 2 periods of play. Brian Elliott will hope to improve on his 2.00 GAA nad 92.% save percentage against the Coyotoes and to close ground on Ben Bishop’s league leading goals against average.
Given the injuries, it will be interesting to see what Hitchcock does with the lines today. My guess for the Blues lines are as follows but expect the full line blender in overdrive: Steen –Lehtera – Tarasenko Schwartz - Berglund – Jaskin Paajarvi - Stastny -Brouwer Upshall – Brodziak – Ott Edmundson – Pietrangelo Gunnarsson - Shattenkirk Parayko - Bortuzzo Elliott
It’s a great day for hockey.