St. Louis Blues Look To Rebound After Tough Loss

By Brandon J. Griffin |

It was a rough night for the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday against the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre. The Habs shut the Blues out for a 3-0 victory in what was supposed to be a “clash of the titans”, the boys in blue simply didn’t play up to par.

They gave up a goal in all three periods, all three goals having a lot in common with each other. Poor play in their own defensive zone, which Montreal pounced on, dug them deeper into the deficit despite some strides towards gaining momentum. Vladimir Tarasenko and Alex Steen both ended the night with team worst minus three each.

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The good news is the six game Canadian road trip is over, and the boys head home to Scottrade Center. The bad news is that they have to face the 4-1-1 New York Islanders. Isles captain John Tavares has been heating up and if the Blues are going to win this game they need to shut him down.

There are a lot of similarities in the make-up of both St. Louis and New York and Saturday’s match up should be highly entertaining. Both teams are high flying offense centered around a burgeoning super star, with a healthy mix of young guns and veterans peppered throughout the rest of the lineup.

Blues fans will likely see a familiar face in the opposing net as Jaroslav Halak returns to face his former team. The game Saturday is the tail end of a back-to-back for NYI, they face Boston on Friday which means they will most likely be saving their number one goalie for the tougher match up.

The Blues need to bounce back in a big way, if they want to see themselves as an elite NHL team they need to defeat other top tier teams. They will get a chance to redeem their poor outing against Montreal with a strong game against New York.

There are some factors favoring the injury ridden St. Louis squad, one being possible returning players. Stastny won’t be back any time soon but we could see Shattenkirk and Fabbri back as soon as Saturday. This would be a huge help but they can’t be and won’t be relying on their health.

St. Louis has the major advantage of player depth, in droves, and so far this season the back up players have filled in significantly. With or without Shattenkirk and Fabbri, the Blues should be able to keep up with the Islanders and hopefully pull out a win.

Brian Elliot will likely get the nod as Jake Allen hasn’t gotten off to such a strong start. Elliot has a 4-0 record, with a .918 save percentage and a 2.01 goals against average.

In 17 career games against the Islanders, Alex Steen has racked up 18 points. Tarasenko has four points in four games, and Pietrangelo has seven points in seven games in their careers versus NYI.

However the focus can’t be on the offense, the Islanders are fourth in the league in goals for per game with 3.50. St. Louis will need to contain the forwards and play a solid defensive game, and hopefully getting saves when they need them.

After a long break this week to lick their wounds, the Blues should come out swinging and get the lead early. Unleash Tarasenko on the Islanders and then play conservatively once they get the lead. This game will prove to be another test against another eastern conference threat.

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