Blues look to get hot vs Nashville

Well now that we finally put one in the win column after losing 4, the Blues will look to start a new streak to get back atop the central division. Some good news is Elliot will be stating tonight after missing a long period of time on the IR. With this comes some contraversy between the pipes in St.louis. How lucky are they though? 3 solid NHL starting goaltenders, not much to complain about. One of them will have to go in this process though. Doug Armstrong is stating that he will have a decision in the next week or so. My thoughts are that Elliott might be the one who has to go love him but Jake Allen is going to be the #1 guy in St.Louis. he is the future. Plus he is in the last year of his contract and will be looking for a raise next season. Doug Armstrong will be the one making the call though, and he makes very good decisions and has had time to plan prior to Elliot coming off IR.



Back to tonights contest, the Predators are 2 points ahead of the Blues in the standings but also have a game in hand. So the Blues really need to put another streak together in a bad way. Its never to early to be thinking of home ice advantage come playoff time.


The keys to tonights contest is a 60 minute effort, we have been lacking in that department for the past few contests. Puck drop to final buzzer its got to be 4 lines go. It's been a  tough few weeks without Jaden Schwartz on the STL line. Hopefully he is almost ready to get back and get them going again. His energy and go go go play has been missed heavily. Look for Ken Hitchcock to rely heavily on the Backes line to take care of Filip Forsberg and company and keep there chances to a minimum.

We really need to take advantage of every little opportunity against Seth Jones and Shea Weber we need to make every check against those 2 as Nashville gives those two big minutes every night and rightfully so, they are amazing talents. Lots of shots and traffic on Pekka Rinne becuase he will stop the puck if he sees it. If any opportunity arises to bury a chance it must go in no questions asked because Rinne doesnt give up many chances. Powerplay needs to score 2 tonight to win that we secure a victory for the Blues tonight.

Blues also need to keep the shots on Elliott to the outside so he can get a feel for the game and the timing back again. Make sure we keep the predators players away from the net in case Elliot lets a few rebounds out, which happens in most goalies first game back. But expect Elliot to be himself again after the first period.


Lineup tonight

Alexander Steen - David Backes - T.J. Oshie

Dmitrij Jaskin - Jori Lehtera - Vladimir Tarasenko

Joakim Lindstrom - Paul Stastny - Ryan Reaves

Steve Ott - Patrik Berglund - Maxim Lapierre

Jay Bouwmeester - Alex Pietrangelo

Barret Jackman - Kevin Shattenkirk

Chris Butler - Ian Cole

Brian Elliott

Jake Allen

Scratched: Martin Brodeur

Injured: Chris Porter (leg), Jaden Schwartz (foot), Carl Gunnarsson (concussion)

from NHL.com

Tongihts prediciton:

It will be a strong fight for both teams and the Blues will come out on top thanks to the strong defence it will be a 3-2 win in regulation. We will not give the Predators a single point.

Breakout star: 

Steve Ott, Expect Ott to play big minutes tonight and lay a pounding on the Nashville defence and set up one of the goals for the Blues.

By Tyler