On Thursday night the Blues lost to the worst team in the NHL by a score of 2-0, continuing their relative scoring drought with only 3 goals in the last 3 games. In 10 of their last 12 games, the Blues have scored 2 or less goal in regulation. It’s amazing that their record in those 12 games is 5-5-2.
On Thursday, the Blues directed 35 shots on net, only giving up 21 shots, one an empty net goal. Jake Allen had no chance to stop the only goal he let in thanks to Robby Fabbri’s ridiculous poor play, looking more like a spoiled mite player than a NHL player. Watch how Fabbri misses the puck and then slaps his stick down on the ice with one hand and stands up, disconnecting himself from the play and allowing Christian Wolanin to easily beat him to the net for an easy goal.
Plays like this infuriate this blogger because this lazy, selfish play should never happen in a pro game, especially from someone who should be chomping at the bit to play. It two weeks for Fabbri to get into a game. I’m betting it’s even longer before he gets back in and I think Jordan Kyrou’s recall yesterday ensures this is the case.
Jake Allen played well again, giving him 2 shutouts and 6 quality starts in his last 7 starts. It will be interesting to see who starts today when the Blues visit the Pittsburgh Penguins. Allen has struggled against the Penguins with only an 87.7% save percentage and winning only 2 of 6 decisions.
The Penguins have been on a roll winning three games in a row and going 7-1-2 in the last 10 games and winning four home games in a row. The Penguins have the 3rd best power play and are 5th highest goals per game which has guided them to the 9th best point percentage in the league.
As you would expect, the Penguins are led by Sidney Crosby who has 92 points in 68 games. Phil Kessel has 72 points in 71 games while Evgeni Malkin has 71 points in 65 games. Jake Guentzel is having a strong campaign with 68 points in 71 games while Kris Letang leads the defense with 53 points in 60 games though Letang is injured.
Crosby has 8 goals and 18 point in 17 games against the Blues while Malkin has 14 points in 15 games. Matt Murray has been strong in net with a 92.1% save percentage against the Blues while going 2-1-1.
Alexander Steen and Tyler Bozak have enjoyed the most success against the Penguins with 40 points in 49 games. Bozak has 4 goals and 8 points in his last 5 games against the Penguins.
It’s interesting that these two teams have the most regular season wins in the NHL since 2011-12 with the Penguins 1st and the Blues 2nd. The Blues will be looking to avenge their 6-1 loss to the Penguins in late December in St. Louis.
David Perron has been activated off injured reserve, forcing the Blues to send Jordan Kyrou back down again. I believe because of these two recent insurance recalls of Kyrou, the Blues only have one recall left for the remainder of the season.
It’s unfortunate that the Blues are not healthy enough to sit both Zach Sanford and Fabbri as both deserve to either be in the AHL, on a conditioning assignment at a minimum, or in the press box watching. I’m betting Fabbri will be the one watching this afternoon.
I’d change the lines up a lot and maybe roll with something like this:
Perron-O'Reilly-Thomas
Schenn-Bozak-Schwartz
Maroon-Sundqvist-Steen
MacEachern-Barbashev-Sanford
Dunn-Pietrangelo
Bouwmeester-Parayko
Del Zotto-Bortuzzo
Allen/Binnington
Ville Husso's cursed season continues as he left last night's San Antonio Rampage game with a lower body injury.
NHL Champions for Charity
We’ve gotten some traction on the charity wager among the Central Division bloggers. One charity I’ll highlight is Meagan’s Walk
http://meaganswalk.com from your Blackhawk’s Blogger
Justin Lowe. Meagan’s Walk seeks to bring hope and awareness to cancerous brain tumors, the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in children and young people.
It’s a great day for hockey.
St Louis Blues Blogger • 
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