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The Blues continue their road trip tonight when they face the Ottawa Senators at 6:30pm CST day at the Canadian Tire Centre. The Senators have won 6 of their last 10 but have only been able to make up ground on the New Jersey Devils in that stretch. As a result, they sit 6 points out of the last wild card position. The Blues are 2 points behind Dallas and Chicago but both of those teams have a game in hand as well. The Blues have made up 2 points on Chicago and 3 points in Dallas in the last 10 games.

The Senators are the 5th highest scoring team in the league, scoring 2.84 goals per game but they are 3rd worst in goals against per game at 3.05. Part of the problem for the Senators may be their penalty killing which ranks 2nd to last in the league. The Blues on the other hand are the 7th stingiest team in the league giving up 2.38 goals per game and are the 3rd best in the league on the penalty kill.

For the Senators, Erik Karlsson leads the way, leading all defensemen in total points, almost 30% of the next closest player, with 11 goals and 56 assists in 63 games. Mark Stone is second on the team with 49 points. Blues killer Bobby Ryan is having a good season with 21 goals and 26 assists in 62 games. Ryan has 17 goals and 13 assists in only 23 games. The Senators will be without Kyle Turris who was shut down for the season.

Alex Pietrangelo is coming of a very successful return from injury with a goal and an assist and 23 minutes of ice time on Sunday against the Hurricanes. Pietrangelo has enjoyed success against the Senators posting 5 assists in 7 games. Troy Brouwer is significantly ahead in goals scored against the Sentators with 6 though he has played the most games by a wide margin (at least 7 over most players). Vladimir Tarasenko, Paul Stastny, David Backes, and Patrik Berglund only have one goal each and Jaden Schwartz has yet to score in 3 games. Jake Allen’s numbers against the Senators are a very small sample size (less than a full game) where he only has a 88.2% save percentage and a 3.87 GAA. Anders Nilsson’s numbers are a bigger sample (almost 4x) and much stronger (94% and 2.02) but the Blues will turn to Allen who stopped the final 27 shots on Sunday after giving up 2 goals on the first 7 shots.

Coach Ken Hitchcock stated the Lehtera is “project to join us this week.” Note the careful word choice as this could just mean joining them on the road trip, not necessarily joining the lineup.

My guess for the Blues lines are as follows:
Schwartz –Stastny – Tarasenko
Jaskin – Backes - Paajarvi
Fabbri – Berglund -Brouwer
Upshall – Brodziak – Reaves
Bouwmeester – Pietrangelo
Gunnarsson – Shattenkirk
Edmundson – Parayko
Allen

Notes from Sunday’s game:
- Parayko played over 20 minutes even with Petro back and had 2 shots and an assist.
- Shattenkirk played 20 minutes and didn’t have a shot on goal.
- Brodziak with a goal and an assist in only 11:13 of ice time.
- Rattie with a goal in only 8:08.
- Upshall with 2 assists in only 11:12.
- Fabbri rebounded with a goal and an assist in only 13:08.

It’s a great day for hockey.

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