Blues Look to go into All Star Break on a Mile High Note Vs Avalanche

Game 46 on the Blues Schedule this evening against the Central rival Colorado Avalanche. This will be the final game before the All star Break. With that congratulations go out to Vladimir Tarasenko and Kevin Shattenkirk on being named to the game. Tonight will be the last of the 5 games the Blues and Avalanche will play against each other in the regular season.The Blues are leading 3-1 in the series, but the one game was a dominant 5-0 effort by the Colorado Avalanche.

The big thing for the Blues this evening is leave nothing left in the tank going into the break. Every puck, every back check, every forecheck gotta leave it all on the ice tonight and they will come out with the two points ( although Brian would say otherwise). Tonight we need to control the puck, puck possession will be key against this highly skilled offence of Colorado because if Matt Duchene, Nathan Mackinnon, or Gabriel Landeskog...to name a few touch the puck they can be lethal. Speaking of that highly skilled offence the Blues Defence need to finish every check on those guys make them not want to be in the corner, or drive the net. I haven't found who's playing in net tonight but whoever it is Jake Allen or Brian Elliot they will stop those outside shots all night.


With I am guessing Semyon Varlamov in net for the Avalanche the Blues Offence just have to keep doing what they do best go the net get a stick on the defensemen's shot and bang home some rubber. All the Blues have to do to bring home a big 2 pts is get the puck deep establish the forecheck and get that cycle going and just shoot whenever there is a chance pepper Varlamov tonight make him work for every save and try and make him stop two. Shoot low for the rebound and crash the net and win that second chance opportunities. Varlamov is a great goaltender so every opportunity to score matters.



Have not found line up cards for this evenings matchup so I am going to guess Hitch is going with what works.

Steen Backes Oshie

Schwartz* Lehtera Tarasenko

Berglund* Statsny Jaskin

Ott Lapierre Reaves

Pietrangelo Bouwmeester

Shattenkirk Gunnarson

Jackman Cole

and my guess for goal tonight will be Brian Elliot.

***** Could expect Berglund to move up with Lehtera and Tarasenko

**** Schwartz gives Statsny that extra speed and grit on the wing.

I am predicting a 3-1 Win for the Blues this evening! Shattenkirk and Statsny will both have a point against their former club.

For a little fun here I am going to post pictures of Erik Johnson, Paul Statsny, Kevin Shattenkirk and Brian Elliot all who used to play for the opposite team.

Here is Erik Johnson 1st overall pick in the 2006 Nhl Draft.

Kevin Shattenkirk Former Colorado Avalanche 1st round Draft pick 14th overall in the 2007 draft.

Paul Statsny, Signed by the Blues this past summer spent 8 seasons with the Colorado Avalanche. Great Signing by Blues Management.

Brian Elliot: Played 12 games with the Colorado Avalanche in 2010-2011after being traded by the Ottawa Senators. The Avalanche released him after the season ( regrets?)

Fun Fact:Erik Johnson and Kevin Shattenkirk were traded for each other in 2011. Story here http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=553408 


Have A good night everyone.

Tyler

Avs Earn Much Needed Win Vs. Upstart Panthers

   



     Thursday night saw the Colorado Avalanche visiting the Florida Panthers during a lengthy road trip, looking to avoid a skid at all costs. Spoiler alert: they did.

Coming into this game, the Avs poor defensive display vs. Carolina led to a 44 save performance from Calvin Pickard and an eventual shootout loss. They allowed over 20 shots in the first period alone. Time after time, it has seemed like there have been turnovers at the worst moments, and they've been costly.

Puck drops, and 2:11 later Tyson Barrie is given all time in the world to walk in and snipe top corner to put the Avs up 1. Here comes the sleeping defensive routine, then (my) Calder favourite Aaron Ekblad scored a beautiful low blocker snapshot on the PP, and we were tied at one within the first five minutes.

The score remained, and the period ended. While heavily outshot, the Avs came back and began to turn the momentum their way. At the 13 minute mark, Landeskog got puck down low after a great offensive effort from O'Reilly, muscled his way to the net and buried the goal to put us up once again. Literally 23 seconds later, Barkov is fed a perfect dish infront of the net for a perfect redirection on net. Game's tied 2-2, and it's almost like nothing just happened. The Avs managed to bring the shot total much closer in the frame, but with the game tied, they needed to come out with a strong 3rd period.

That they did.

The Avs were able to sustain pressure in the offensive zone, cause turnovers, and win the battles down low. The Duchene-Tanguay-Iginla line had a shift that seemed to be pushing 2 minutes, then in came the Mitchell line to lay it on heavy. Earning a powerplay, Holden was able to get a shot from the point make its way to the net to put the Avs up one final time.

Unlike previous games, the Avs were able to play solid defensively. They made smart passes, played their zones effectively, and even apply more pressure in their end. Iggy capped the night off with an empty netter, which tied him with Mike Bossy for 20th on the all-time goals list.






Brian

Blues host fiesty Oilers looking to make it 5 straight

       








Well as of late the Blues have been playing better bringing themselves to within 3 points of second and 5 points from first place in the central division. Tonights game will not be easy, as the Oilers have been playing very well under interim head coach Todd Nelson. Jaden Schwartz has been a huge boost since returning to line up with 7 points in his last 4 games.  So hopefully the STL line can stay hot going into tonights game.



The Edmonton Oilers have been hot and cold going into match ups lately. They upset the Blackhawks on friday, but lost to the Florida Panthers the next game. So if they keep up they're recent events they should be a strong team tonight against the Blues. Especially with Ben Scrivens standing on his head every game and giving the Oilers a chance to win every night.


Now to the St.Louis Blues who have put together a string of 4 wins in a row  and should have no problem turning that to five as long as they come out strong. With Jake Allen starting in goal and in a strong competition to become the starting goalie his performance should be strong. As long as the defence plays well in front of him. The best offence is a good defence and the Blues are the headliner for that. They have one of the best defence cores in the whole league. When they play well and make the right plays like they can, it turns into great chances for the Blues offence. Whom have no problem putting the puck in the net. David Backes, Tj Oshie, and Tarasenko have been hot this season in front of the net, aswell as recent all star selection Kevin Shattenkirk who has been money from the back end.

Tonight's Line Up vs Oilers.

Alexander Steen - David Backes - T.J. Oshie

Jaden Schwartz - Jori Lehtera - Vladimir Tarasenko

Dmitrij Jaskin - Paul Stastny - Patrik Berglund

Steve Ott - Maxim Lapierre - Ryan Reaves

Jay Bouwmeester - Alex Pietrangelo

Carl Gunnarsson - Kevin Shattenkirk

Barret Jackman - Ian Cole

Jake Allen

Brian Elliott

Scratched: Martin Brodeur, Joakim Lindstrom, Chris Butler

Injured: Chris Porter (ankle)

Tonights Prediction: 5-2 for the Blues.

Tyler

Slumping Blues hope Schwartz adds spark vs Sharks

Well for those of you counting that's 2 losses straight on this recent mid season slump, but with the return of Jaden Schwartz tonight looks like the Blues are receiving that much needed spark to the line up. With the reconnection of the Schwartz, Jori Lehtera, and Vladimir Tarasenko hopefully they can put the points on the board like they did earlier.




Last night against the Ducks the Blues looked good, one turnover gave the Ducks the victory last night. It's too bad they couldn't at least get one pt from there. But the good thing about hockey is there is a quick turnaround and they will come back hard against the San Jose Sharks.


The Sharks will be missing Joe Thornton tonight who is a big contributor to that team. Blues really need to get on them early and turn this road trip around and start putting some points in the standings again. I am starting to feel like a broken record with my keys to success, 60 minute effort, Shots, good defence, and hard on every puck. As well as finish every check on the Sharks defence to force turnovers.

Martin Brodeur played really well last night, the man is making a huge statement to stay in the NHL despite all the rumours floating around. With that being said he wont be making back to back starts 2 nights in a row. Brian Elliott will be starting this evening. One thing I noticed is Jake Allen is scratched for the second night in a row. Won't be looking too much into it yet but it will be something to look at going into Arizona on tuesday.


Looking to tonight with Schwartz returning to the lineup here are the lines.

Alexander Steen - David Backes - T.J. Oshie

Jaden Schwartz - Jori Lehtera - Vladimir Tarasenko

Dmitrij Jaskin - Paul Stastny - Patrik Berglund

Steve Ott - Maxim Lapierre - Ryan Reaves

Jay Bouwmeester - Alex Pietrangelo

Carl Gunnarsson - Kevin Shattenkirk

Barret Jackman - Ian Cole

Brian Elliott

Martin Brodeur

Scratched: Joakim Lindstrom, Chris Butler, Jake Allen

Injured: Chris Porter (leg)

from:NHL.com

My prediction.   4-2 win for the Blues.

Kevin Shattenkirk will be the man tonight, I will say 1 goal and 2 assists. Power play points.

Blues look to gain ground in sunny california

Well here is Game #38 on the schedule and things have not been looking to great for the Blues as of late. As of today the Blues are only 2 points ahead of the Winnipeg Jets, but they do have a game at hand which is nice.So they could push it to 4 points tonight and get a streak going. The predators have a 4 point advantage on the Blues as of right now,  they also have a GIH on the Blues. The central is pretty tight right now so every win is huge to secure that post season berth.



Paul Statsny has been bumped up between Jori Lehtera and Vladimir Tarasenko which hopefully gets Statsny going. The Blues really need to get him hot because when Statsny is hot there is no telling what kind of streak the Blues can get on. Carl Gunnarsson will be making his return after missing ten games with an upper body injury. He will be paired with Kevin Shattenkirk so hopefully that will help him out with his return. As well as Colin Fraser will be in the Blues lineup from the Chicago Wolves, Fraser Stanley Cup rings with the L.A kings and Chicago Blackhawks, and is a very good energy guy so he fits perfectly with Steve Ott and Ryan Reaves.


Tonights game against the Anaheim Ducks will be the toughest matchup of the road trip. The Ducks high powered offence and solid defence mixed with the hot goaltender Fredrik Andersen will be a huge test to the St.Louis Blues. Expect Ken Hitchcock to have the boys fired up this evening because they have to turn this road trip around before things go south.


Keys to Victory.

60 minute effort, we cannot stray from the simple shit tonight. Pucks deep, Hard fore check, good defencive zone play, and my favourite SHOTS. When you play a hot goalie its shots with traffic because if he cant see it, you have a better chance of putting the puck in behind him. Look no further than David Backes tonight. The captain does this better than anyone else in the NHL he plays a very simple game and is not afraid to stand in front of the net and bury those gritty goals. Brodeur will have to make big saves tonight with the high powered top two lines of the Anaheim Ducks.


Line up tonight ( NHL.com)

Alexander Steen – David Backes – T.J. Oshie

Jori Lehtera – Paul Stastny – Vladimir Tarasenko

Dmitrij Jaskin – Patrik Berglund – Ryan Reaves

Steve Ott – Colin Fraser - Maxim Lapierre

Jay Bouwmeester – Alex Pietrangelo

Carl Gunnarsson – Kevin Shattenkirk

Barret Jackman – Ian Cole

Martin Brodeur

Brian Elliott

Scratched: Joakim Lindstrom, John McCarthy, Chris Butler, Jake Allen

Injured: Jaden Schwartz (foot), Chris Porter (leg)

Extra.

Jaden Schwartz skated for the second day in a row and look for him hopefully to be ready to rejoin the lineup against the San Jose Sharks tomorrow. He will be a huge boost to the lineup, his game is so perfect on the the other wing with Jori Lehtera and Vladimir Tarasenko.

Prediction:

2-0 for the St Louis Blues close game but the Blues strong defence and Martin Brodeur trying to make a statement you will not stop them. Paul Statsny will put up a goal and an assist with his new line mates tonight.