St. Louis Blues Vs Buffalo 2.0: Pregame News And Notes
By Todd Panula
The St. Louis Blues take on the Buffalo Sabres for the second time this season. They need a big win to get back on track in this short road trip.
The St. Louis Blues take on the Buffalo Sabres tonight for the second time this season. They are trying to get back on track after a small derailment in Boston.
St. Louis took on Boston two days ago and came out on the short end. Much of it was due to their own failings.
The Blues had a lot of shots during the first period, but none were from dangerous spots on the ice. After that, the Blues offense disappeared.
Of course, there was the infamous non-goaltender interference call. That definitely influenced the game since it was scoreless up until that point.
St. Louis would go on to fall 3-1, but if that goal does not go in the entire complexion is changed. No point to dwell on the past now. The Blues have to look to the future and the future is in Buffalo.
The Blues already have a win over the Sabres this year. St. Louis won in the Scottrade Center, 3-2, back on December 10.
That was right before they went on a small nose dive in their record and the Blues could only eek out the extra point in overtime. This time around they have a healthy Jaden Schwartz and will look to assert more dominance.
Know Thy Enemy
The Sabers come into tonight’s game ranked second to last in their record. They are currently 14-28-9. Buffalo is also last in scoring. They have 117 goals and average 2.29 goals per game.
Buffalo initially came out of the All-Star break on a good streak. They won three games in western Canada, but dropped their last two games at home.
The Sabres have not done themselves any good at home. The fanbase is dwindling due to a 6-14-2 record on their home ice.
Buffalo is also 4-6-0 in their last 10.
The odd thing about the Sabres is there is talent there. They have Jack Eichel, Evander Kane and Ryan O’Reily.
Those three players have 20, 16 and 14 goals respectively. They seem to be in the same boat Edmonton was in a few years ago where their high draft picks are playing well but not gelling well enough. The Blues need to hope they don’t find any extra chemistry tonight.
Blues Tidbits
Despite the loss to Boston, the Blues are still ok overall. They are only 5-4-1 in their last 10, but they are 31-19-3 overall.
The Blues currently sit in third place in the division. They are two points behind Nashville, who will be playing the Rangers tonight, and three points ahead of Dallas, who is playing Minnesota.
Fortunately, the Blues are a good road team, which will give them a good shot at winning with Buffalo’s bad home record. The Blues come in 13-9-3 on the road.
Projected Lineup:
Forwards
Jaden Schwartz – Brayden Schenn – Vladimir Tarasenko
Vladimir Sobotka – Paul Stastny – Alexander Steen
Ivan Barbashev – Patrik Berglund – Tage Thompson
Dmitrij Jaskin – Kyle Brodziak – Chris Thorburn
Defense
Carl Gunnarsson – Alex Pietrangelo
Jay Bouwmeester – Colton Parayko
Joel Edmundson – Vince Dunn
Goalie
Personally, I’m a little disappointed not to see Jake Allen get another crack, but it is what it is. I really do not understand what is going on with sitting Scottie Upshall, but if a fourth liner is the worst we have to worry about the Blues should be fine.
Where To Watch
Television:
Fox Sports Midwest or MSG-B
Streaming:
Fox Sports Go, NHL.tv (subscriber fee)
Radio:
KMOX, KMOX.com, Blues app
The puck drops on this one at 6 pm Central Time.
Prediction
The Blues have dominated this series. They are 10-1-0 in their last 11 against Buffalo. The only drawback is that loss came in Buffalo last season.
Buffalo is not a good team, despite their talent individually. The counter to that is the Blues have a tendency to play to the level of their competition, thus they struggle against lower teams – case in point, getting spanked 5-2 against Arizona.
Nevertheless, the Blues are the better team and played decently enough against Boston to carry over a few things. They should come out the victor in Buffalo.
St. Louis needs to get a jump on this game and assert themselves early, which is usually a problem. If they can do that, they can snuff out any hope early.
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The Blues need to be motivated for this one. If for no other reason, they need to show a little more for the dads as the family trip continues here.
Blues win 4-1 in this one. That kind of result would set them up nicely for tough divisional opponents next week.