The Blues shut out the Arizona Coyotes 4-0 on Thursday to extend their winning streak to 8 games and bring their record to 12-2-1 in their last 15 games and 11-3-1 in their last 15 road games.
The Blues opened the scoring a little over 3 minutes into the game on a good passing play between Jaden Schwartz and Joel Edmundson.
The Blues would extend the lead to two goals with less than five minutes left in the 1st period. Oskar Sundqvist makes a good spin pass to Edmundson who lets the shot go from the left point Vladimir Tarasenko deflects the shot into the net.
Tarasenko would score his 2nd goal of the game on the power play to extend the lead to three with less than four minutes left in the 2nd period.
Robert Bortuzzo would cap the scoring off with a goal midway through the third period.
Coach Craig Berube did well again to spread minutes around with no Blues forward playing more than 19:07 and none less than 10:32. Edmundson, Tarasenko and Oskar Sundqvist all had multi-point games. Robert Thomas continued his point streak (4 games) with an assist.
Tarasenko extended his point streak to 10 games with 9 goals and 8 assists. He has 5 goals and 3 assists in his last 3 games.
Today the Blues visit the Colorado Avalanche. The Avalanche have been struggling going 2-5-3 in their last 10 games and are only 10-11-5 at home, losing their last 5 games at home. The Avs are 8th in the league in scoring but 25th in goals against. They have the 7th best power play and the 4th worst penalty kill.
The Avalanche’s scoring has dried up and the goals against have been flowing. Tyson Barrie average 0.85 points per game through January but only 0.14 so far in February, Gabriel Landeskog went from 1.08 to 0.57, Nathan McKinnon went from averaging 1.42 points per game to 0.57 and Mikko Rantanen has had the biggest decline going from 1.48 to 0.29.
Semyon Varlamov had a saver percentage above 90% in both October and November but has been in each month since. Phillip Grubauer’s worst two save percentage months this season are January and February. Varlamov has strong career numbers against the Blues with a 93% save percentage. Grubauer on the other hand is at 86%.
Rantanen and MacKinnon have been good against the Blues, combining for 27 points in 35 games.
Ryan O’Reilly loves playing against his former team, potting 11 points in 8 games. Jake Allen has been great against the Avalanche, posting a2.30 goals against average and a 92.3% save percentage. Expect him to get the start today and Jordan Binnington to get the start in Minnesota tomorrow.
It appears the Blues hopefully won’t have changed the luck with a lineup change but Alexander Steen has returned to St. Louis for the pending birth of his child. Robby Fabbri will get back into the lineup for the 1st time in a month. Jake Allen is my expected starter. With Fabbri in, I’m guessing the lines will be this:
Schenn - O'Reilly – Tarasenko
Schwartz - Bozak – Thomas
Sanford - Sundqvist - Maroon
MacEachern - Barbashev - Fabbri
Edmundson - Pietrangelo
Bouwmeester - Parayko
Dunn - Bortuzzo
Allen
*** note the Blues website has Fabbri and Thomas swapped but i bet that changes throughout the game.
NHL Champions for Charity
We’ve gotten some traction on the charity wager among the Central Division bloggers. One charity I’ll highlight is Paws in Motion which is run by the Winnipeg Humane Society
https://www.whspawsinmotion.ca/from your Jet’s Blogger
Peter Tessier. Paws in Motion works and walks toward a future where no dogs, cats, or critters need to suffer from hunger, homelessness, or neglect. They believe all animals deserve to live happy and healthy lives with loving families.
It’s a great day for hockey.
St Louis Blues Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»