St. Louis Blues Vs. Winnipeg Jets 3.0: Pregame News And Notes
By Todd Panula
It’s the St. Louis Blues against the Winnipeg Jets for the third time this season tonight. The Blues come in hot, but the Jets enter rested.
The St. Louis Blues have not come into a game this hot in exactly two months. December 9 was the last time the team scored six goals in one game. Interestingly, the final in that game was also 6-1 just like it was against Colorado last night.
Adding to the coincidence, the last time the Blues won 6-1 was also the first game of a back-to-back. Luckily, the Blues ended up winning both games in that scenario.
That’s about where the similarities end. St. Louis beat Detroit back then and went on to squeak by Buffalo in overtime the following night.
Colorado is better than Detroit, so we can glean more from this win than that. Winnipeg is light years ahead of Buffalo though, so the Blues cannot expect an easy game. One other little nugget – the places of the games were reversed. St. Louis started on the road in Detroit in December only to finish at home against Buffalo. They will be in Winnipeg tonight after playing at home yesterday.
It will be a slightly unfair advantage for the Jets tonight. While most divisional teams stay close to the same schedule, the Jets have been off since February 6. Clearly, the Blues played last night after having played the 6th as well.
Nevertheless, the Blues can’t have any excuses. Nobody expects another performance like the one against Colorado, but they can’t have any clunkers either. A win is needed, but continuing to play well is just as important with other highly rated opponents on the horizon.
Know Thy Enemy
The Winnipeg Jets come in as the first place – or second place, depending on your point of view – team in an uber-difficult Central Division. They are currently 32-13-9 and tied in points with Nashville.
By a technicality, they are the second place team since they’ve played an extra game and have an extra loss. Since those things even out by the end of the season, I still consider them tied for first regardless of technicalities.
The Jets have won two straight, but have not been unbeatable. They barely beat Arizona, 4-3, in their last game. The Jets are 6-2-2 in their last 10 games as well.
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The issue comes with offense. St. Louis has struggled to keep teams from scoring of late and the Jets do a lot of scoring.
Winnipeg is currently second in scoring in the Western Conference with only Vegas having more total goals. The Jets 176 is 15 more than the Blues have scored.
The Jets have dominated this series of late. Winnipeg won all five games last season and have split with the Blues through two games this season.
Like the Blues, the Jets have a grocery sized list of injured players, including Mark Scheifele. Unlike the Blues, the Jets have thrived after those injuries.
Despite a high-profile move for goaltender Steve Mason, Connor Hellebuyck has taken the reigns and made himself an All-Star this season.
Blues Tidbits
Joel Edmuondson has been placed on IR for a broken forearm. He will be out at least six weeks according to the team website. The Blues will recall Chris Butler as the seventh defenseman.
As far as tonight’s game, the Blues are going to have to end a trend if they hope to win tonight. They have not won in Winnipeg since December of 2015.
The home teams have taken both games this season and neither were close. In fact, the away team has yet to score a goal in either game with the Blues winning 2-0 on December 16 and the Jets victorious 4-0 the very next night.
St. Louis has to play for its goaltender tonight. Carter Hutton played well in the Blues win over Winnipeg the last time only for Jake Allen to get hung out to dry the following night. St. Louis can’t do the same this time around.
On the bright side, Tarasenko has played well against the Jets. He has seven goals and 14 points in their last 13 meetings.
The Blues are now 7-3-0 in their last 10. They still only own a razor thin margin of one point over Dallas however.
Where To Watch
Television:
Fox Sports Midwest or TSN3
Streaming:
Fox Sports Go, NHL.tv (subscriber fee)
Radio:
KMOX, KMOX.com, Blues app
The game starts a little earlier for some reason, even though Winnipeg is in the same time zone. 6:30 Central Time is the scheduled start.
Predictions
I want to be positive heading into this game. Unfortunately, history – at least perceived history – tells us the Blues are not great in the second game of a back-to-back. That’s actually not true this season, since they are actually 6-2-2, but always feels true.
Next: Good And Bad From Blues Win Over Colorado
Regardless, it’s going to be hard for a tired Blues team to take down a rested Jets team. If they are to do it, they have to find the same jump they had yesterday. You might not be able to sustain it for 60 minutes, but you have to match the Jets who might come out flat.
It’s still hard to see a Blues win in this. I think they do make it close, but not close enough. Jets win in overtime 3-2.