On Sunday, the Blues ended their lackluster road trip with a lackluster game with a shootout to the lowly Buffalo Sabres.
The Sabres drew 1st blood as the Blues forgot how to defend in their own zone. Look how three Blues players bunch up in their own while still effectively covering very little if anything defensively. This leaves a Johan Larsson wide open as he cuts to the net and beats Jake Allen.
Pat Maroon would get the Blues even less than three minutes later thanks to great interference run by Robert Thomas and the great individual effort and skill of Maroon.
The Sabres would regain the lead less than five minutes later after a very bad read at the offensive blue line by Jay Bouwmeester allows the Sabres to have an odd man rush.
As Conor Sheary cuts across the crease, his stick hooks Allen’s arm just a bit. This happens just as Evan Rodrigues beats Allen to the far side. I don’t know that the contact had any real impact on Allen not making the save but Allen does look at Sheary after the goal goes in.
Sheary would push the lead to two around eight minutes into the 2nd period. Much like the last goal, this goal was created by a poor read by Michael Del Zotto at the offensive blue line. His poor attempt at a pinch creates the odd man rush against. Further, Robert Bortuzzo doesn’t take the pass nor even the shooter allowing the 2 on 1 a better chance of success.
Less than 6 minutes later, David Perron would get revenge for a terrible penalty call against him, scoring shortly after his penalty expired. Watch how Perron uses Tyler Bozak and the Buffalo defenseman as a screen on the goal.
Brayden Schenn would score the game tying goal midway through the 3rd period on a wrap-around goal. Note defenseman Michael Del Zotto’s net front presence on the goal.
The Blues would fall 2-1 in the shootout when Ryan O’Reilly would miss the net on his attempt, after cleanly beating Carter Hutton.
Maroon, Perron and Schenn were the Blues best players, combining for 16 of their 33 shots. Allen played decent but as has been the trend, the team didn’t play nearly as well in front of him as they did the day before in Pittsburgh in front of Binnington.
Today the Blues will start a four game home stand when they host Ken Hitchcock’s Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers are 7 points out of the last wild card spot with one game in hand and have gone 6-4 in their last 10 games. They are 16-16-5 on the road though they have won 4 of their last 5 road games.
They rank 21st in goals per game and 11th on the power play. They are 24th in goals against per game and 29th on the penalty kill.
As you would expect, Connor McDavid leads the team in scoring with 105 points in 68 games though Leon Draisaitl leads in goals with 43 in 72 games. Darnell Nurse leads the defensemen with 35 points.
It sounds like former Blues Kyle Brodziak and Ty Rattie will both return to the lineup tonight. Mikko Koskinen is expected to start in net.
The Blues will be looking to avenge their December 5th shootout loss in St. Louis. The Blues are 5-1-2 in their last 8 games against the Oilers in St. Louis.
Blues fans will be excited to see Vladimir Tarasenko back in the lineup. With him back, I expect the lines to start like this:
Schenn-O'Reilly-Tarasenko
Maroon-Bozak-Thomas
Schwartz-Sundqvist-Perron
Steen-Barbashev-Sanford
Dunn-Pietrangelo
Bouwmeester-Parayko
Del Zotto-Bortuzzo
Binngton
On the injury front, it sounds like Joel Edmundson and Carl Gunnarsson are both progressing and getting closer to returning.
On the funny story front, Craig Berube relayed a story from when he was playing for Ken Hitchcock. Berube said that Hitchcock once told him “if the puck is on your stick for more than two seconds, it’s too long. Get it to somebody better”.
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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