Tonight the Blues will start a three game road trip, visiting the Anaheim Ducks. The Blues are struggling, having scored two goals or less in regulation for 7 straight games, going 3-3-1 in that span.
For what it’s worth, there were some pointed quotes after the home loss to Dallas on Saturday. Craig Berube commented that “we’re getting some good looks but it’s not the same. We’re not controlling the play”.
Ryan O’Reilly as a pretty tough critic on himself. “I myself have been terrible these last few games. I have to find a way to create more. Our line has to be one of the lines that plays the most minutes, has to create and change momentum. I myself take responsibility for that. I have to be way better than I’ve shown.”
O’Reilly continued when asked about Brayden Schenn, Schenn is “a huge missing piece for us. When he’s in the lineup, he affects us dramatically and helps us.” He referenced David Perron saying any of “those guys” “would be a huge help”.
For those who didn’t appreciate the value of Brayden Schenn, look no further than this stretch as Schenn missed six of those seven games. Without him, the Blues lost two of six games and only earned five points. It is expected that Schenn will dress against the Ducks tonight.
The Ducks are 2nd last in the conference and have only won four of their last 10 but they are better at home (13-11-8) and have won two games in a row.
Ryan Getzlaf leads the Ducks with 39 points in 56 games. Corey Perry only has 4 points in 16 games. Hampus Lindholm leads the defense with 24 points in 61 games. Most of the Ducks wins can be attributed to extremely good goaltending from John Gibson (91.6% save percentage) and Ryan Miller (92.7%). Getzlaf has been good against the Blues with 37 pts in 40 games.
Jake Allen has been good against both the Kings (94.1% save percentage and 1.82 goals against average) who the Blues face tomorrow and the Ducks (92.3% and 1.92 gaa). It looks like Binnington starts tonight and Allen starts tomorrow.
Against the Ducks, Tyler Bozak has been well above his career averages with 9 goals and 16 points in 13 games. Pat Maroon has 9 points in 10 games against his former team.
With Schenn expected to be back, it appears Jaden Schwartz has been demoted to the 3rd line. The lines were like this in practice:
Schenn-O'Reilly-Tarasenko
Maroon-Bozak-Thomas
Schwartz-Sundqvist-Steen
MacEachern-Barbashev-Blais
Edmundson-Pietrangelo
Bouwmeester-Parayko
Dunn-Del Zotto
Binnington
I like that Zach Sanford is getting to watch a game. His game has been diminishing through the season, especially the last few weeks. It should be interesting to see what Michael Del Zotto brings to the table tonight against his former team.
NHL Champions for Charity
We’ve gotten some traction on the charity wager among the Central Division bloggers. One charity I’ll highlight is Best Buddies Tennessee
https://www.bestbuddies.org/tennessee/from your Predators’s Blogger
Paul McCann. Best Buddies Tennessee is dedicated to establishing a volunteer movement that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment, leadership development and inclusive living opportunities for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. As a side note, I recently got to experience a Best Buddies even in the St. Louis area that was led by the Eureka high school football team. It was a lot of fun and brought a lot of joy to those involved.
It’s a great day for hockey.
St Louis Blues Blogger • 
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