The St. Louis Blues roll into town for a date against the Red Wings, looking to avenge the 7-3 beatdown the Wings put on them in their first meeting this season. The Blues are a little banged up, but they still have one of the premier goalies in the division in Jaroslav Halak manning the pipes. The Blues really cooled down after their scorching start, and currently sit in dead last in the Central Division, 1 point behind Columbus.
The Blues leading scorer is David Backes, and he only has 20 points in 28 games. Alexander Steen and Andy McDonald share the team lead in goals with 8 apiece. Offense is definitely the main weakness of this team.
St Louis Game Time is your SB Nation Blues’ site.
More after the jump including where you can make your predictions.
- The Wings will definitely be looking to bounce back after a 5-0 loss to the Kings on Monday night. The Wings carried play for the majority of the game and fired 51 shots at Jonathan Quick, but they were unable to solve the young Kings goalie. How will the Wings fare against another top netminder in Halak?
- Speaking of Halak, he has fallen off the record pace he was setting earlier this season, but is still sporting the 9th best GAA in the league at 2.24, and he has 3 SO on the year. Another goal like this certainly wouldn’t hurt the Wings’ chances.
- The Red Wings currently have the 2nd best offense in the NHL, scoring 3.36 goals per game. The Blues are 24th at 2.46 goals per game. The Wings will want to score early and often to get the Blues out of their comfort zone.
- This was mentioned in a fanpost yesterday, but ESPN (yuck, it hurts me just typing that) has a story about TPH, Nicklas Lidstrom, wondering whether he is the greatest defenseman of all time? Is this even a question? What say you? Does Nick out-rank Bobby Orr or Ray Bourque in your minds?
- SLGT would have you believe that Jay McClement is worthy of the Selke Trophy, and they use colour charts and big words to sway you to their side. To that, I counter with this:
- In case any of you were wondering, we’re going to be updating what’s going on in the 3 WIIM fantasy hockey leagues pretty soon. Maybe we can get a little good-natured trash talking happening between all of you.
- Score Prediction: In the last 4 games, I’ve picked the Wings twice and the opponent twice. I’m 0-for-4. I think it’s time to admit I just plain suck at this. With that said, because I’m a jinx, I’m going 3-2 Blues because I think the Blues are going to come out with guns blazing, and Halak is going to make a few big saves to keep them in it.
- Player Prediction: I’m going with the Mule, Johan Franzen, because I think he’s due to have a big night, and he will score both Wing goals.
- Around the League: The Penguins lost for the first time in a long time, and it was to their bitter rivals, the Flyers. While I loathe the Pens with every fiber of my being, a 12-game winning streak is very impressive. Oh, and the Leafs and Oilers played, and people watched (maybe).
- Off-Topic Discussion: Casey is off writing exams, as a lot of you are. So, I thought it would be fun to have everyone name the worst final exam they ever wrote. Mine was a Japanese history exam that was 5 essay questions in 2 hours. I got a C, and skipped out of the class because I was finally done.
