On Friday night, the Blues won their 4th game in their last 5 tries, beating the San Jose Sharks 4-0. The Blues played a strong 1st period, outshooting the Sharks 9-6 and gaining the lead with just over 5 minutes left on Alex Pietrangelo’s 2nd goal of the season. The real work on the goal was done by Vladimir Tarasenko behind the net, winning puck battles and finding a wide open Pietrangelo who had all day to pick his spot.
The Blues extended their lead to 2 a little over five minutes into the 2nd period on Ryan O’Reilly’s 8th goal of the year. Again, Tarasenko wins the puck battle below the goal line to make a key contribution to the goal. How Tarasenko didn’t get an assist on the play is beyond me and coach Mike Yeo’s comments after the game suggest he agrees with me.
Jaden Schwartz would get his 2nd goal of the season less than 10 minutes later, coming shortly after he hit the post.
Alexander Steen would add a bit of a luck goal with under 10 minutes to go in the 3rd period.
Chad Johnson stopped all 33 shots and was very strong in net. Aaron Dell was also strong in the loss, stopping many quality chances.
Yeo was able to manage minutes in the game as no forward has more than 19:05 of ice time but Nkita Soshnikov and Zach Sanford only combined for just over 15 minutes. Sanford’s game appears to have regressed a bit.
The Blues power play had its scoring streak snapped, going 0 for 4.
The Blues will be looking to avenge their only loss in their last five games when they host the Minnesota Wild this afternoon. The Wild are having a strong season, 2nd in the Central division. They have won 2 in a row and 8 of their last 10. They give up the 5th fewest goals per game and have the 5th best penalty kill.
The Blues on the other hand are the 2nd best scoring team in the league and are 4th best on the power play.
One would expect that Yeo won’t change the lineup as the Blues played one of their most complete games of the year on Friday. Assuming so, this will be where the lines start:
Schwartz - O'Reilly - Tarasenko
Fabbri - Thomas - Perron
Steen - Bozak - Soshnikov
Sanford - Barbashev – Sundqvist
Gunnarsson - Pietrangelo
Dunn - Parayko
Edmundson - Schmaltz
Johnson
It sounds like Schenn will be held out another game and you have to expect Johnson to get the start given his recent performances, especially the shutout. Based on practice yesterday, it seems like Pat Maroon will be the odd man out again. I’d like to see him come in for Soshnikov and see Soshnikov move into Sanford’s spot and let Sanford reset.
NHL Champions for Charity
We’ve gotten some traction on the charity wager among the Central Division bloggers. More on that to come.
It’s a great day for hockey.
St Louis Blues Blogger • 
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