The Blues sure had an entertaining and interesting game on Thursday night when Brian Elliott and the Philadelphia Flyers visited. In what I would expect is Elliott’s last game as a Flyer, his teammates hung him out to dry. Elliott let up four goals on five shots but he had no chance to save any of the goals.
Barbashev batted one out of midair from right in front of the net with the switch hit goal
Ryan O’Reilly would be the beneficiary of some beautiful passing on the power play
Alexander Steen would be the recipient of a great Oskar Sundqvist pass, scoring the short handed goal
Pat Maroon would add a goal from just outside the crease, ending Elliott’s evening.
The Blues would add three more goals from David Perron, Brayden Schenn, and another one from Steen in route to a 7-3 win. Jaden Schwartz was the only Blues forward who didn’t earn a point. Carl Gunnarsson struggled a bit 16:32 of ice time, going -2 with no blocked shots or takeaways.
Alex Pietrangelo notched 3 assists while Robert Bortuzzo played over 20 minutes, saving some minutes from Pietrangelo and Jay Bouwmeester. Steen had three points while Barbashev, Perron, Schenn and Tarasenko had two.
The Blues end their season this afternoon at home against the Canucks in a game that has the potential to be very significant for the Blues. If the Blues lose, they ensure a third place finish and traveling to either Nashville or Winnipeg to start the 1st round. If the Blues only get a point, they need Nashville and Winnipeg to lose in regulation in order to win the division. If the Blues win, any loss by Nashville and Winnipeg results in a Blues central division title.
The Canucks suffered a tough loss to Nashville on Thursday as a result of a couple of tough calls, one on an obscure rule that allows a goal to be scored after an inadvertent whistle and the other on a play that could have been ruled as goaltender interference.
The Canucks are 6-4 in their last 10 games and 15-20-5 on the road this season. The Canucks are only 24th in scoring and 19th in goals against per game. They are 25th on the power play and 11th on the penalty kill.
Rookie phenom Elias Pettersson has cooled off substantially, only scoring 4 goals in his last 30 games after scoring 23 goas in his 1st 40 games. Brock Boeser has 55 points in 68 games. Alexander Edler leads the defense with 32 points in 55 games.
Regardless of how the game goes, the Blues will be scoreboard watching later tonight to see who they will end up playing.
Most of the Blues have struggled personally against the Canucks. David Perron is one of the best with 23 points in 36 games. Ryan O’Reilly is looking for his first career goal against the Canucks.
Tyler Bozak was involved in a car accident on the way to the rink this afternoon but a very informed source (Molly, his wife) says everyone in the accident is okay.
For those that don’t remember, today is the 1 year anniversary of the Humboldt Broncos tragic bus crash. Our sticks are out for the boys and our thoughts are with their family and friends and the entire hockey community. Per Molly, Tyler wore his Humboldt remembrance ribbon to the rink. I bet the minds of many of the NHL players will reflect on Humboldt and their own travels through their youth.
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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