Follow me on twitter
The Blues playoff hopes took a bit of a hit in the last two days by their drubbing at the hands of the Arizona Coyotes (6-0), more injuries (Scottie Upshall - lacerated kidney and Jordan Schmaltz - undisclosed upper body injury), and the Ducks and Avalanche's 3 point game last night.
The Blues still control their destiny in that if they win out, they make the playoffs. In fact, the are guaranteed a playoff spot even if they go 2-1-1 as long as they win the game against the Avalanche. Depending on what the other teams do, they may even be able to do less though that becomes a treacherous path.
For those wondering about Upshall's injury, here is the play. Upshall initiates a check on Luke Schenn and gets the worst of it.
The Blues are currently on pace for 96.7 points with the Avalanche on pace for 96.5, the Kings on pace for 97.6 and the Ducks on pace for 98.6. The Avalanche has the toughest schedule, facing the Blues, Kings, and Sharks. The Kings face the Wild, Avalanche and Stars. The Blues have the Capitals tonight, the Avalanche and the Blackhawks twice.
Tonight, the Blues will put Jake Allen back into the net and Chris Butler will replace rookie Mitch Reinke while Tage Thompson will replace Scottie Upshall.
The Blues will likely face Braden Holtby in net as Philip Grubauer played last night in their division clinching win over the Penguins. The Capitals have little to play for other than pride and statistics given the Capitals have clinched the division and cannot catch the Bruins for the top conference seed. It will be interesting to see if the Capitals rest any of their key players tonight.
The Avalanche and Kings play a big game tonight in Los Angeles. Blues fans will again be rooting against the dreaded 3 point game.
In other NHL news, somehow repeat offender Brad Marchand delivered this dirty cross check and escaped with only a fine.
Will the NHL and the NHLPA ever really get serious about protecting the safety of their players? I'm guessing money and results will always trump player safety, at least for the foreseeable future which continues to disappoint many of us.'
Also, it appears the Sedin twins are retiring after the season.
It's a great day for hockey.
Fellow Hockeybuzz bloggers
Nashville Predator's Paul McCann,
Winnipeg Jet's Peter Tessier and
Minnesota Wild's Dan Wallace have generously agreed to a friendly charity wager. We were hoping to do the whole division but don't have it fully represented yet. The blogger whose team finishes the highest the standings at the end of the year gets to pick a charity to whom the others will donate in their name.