St. Louis Blues Vs. Colorado 4.0: Pregame News And Notes

The St. Louis Blues have a chance to start an actual winning streak against a divisional opponent tonight. It will not be easy as Colorado is on fire lately.

The St. Louis Blues are not getting much help from their fellow playoff contenders right now as far as the standings go. So, it is up to the boys to take matters into their own hands tonight.

Win or lose tonight, the St. Louis Blues will still be outside of the playoff picture. Despite that fact, this game is their biggest of the season.

The St. Louis Blues are in a situation that is not enviable right now. Given their place in the standings, every game from here on out is the most important one of the season.

Tonight’s game takes on extra significance for several reasons. First and foremost, it’s the next one on the schedule. After that, it is because it is against the Colorado Avalanche.

The Avalanche have had a surge late in the season and sit in the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. They are currently three points ahead of St. Louis in the standings.

Even if the Blues win tonight, they will still be on the outside of the playoff picture. That does not mean they can take this game for granted – anything but in fact.

St. Louis will be five points behind if they fail to win tonight, making things that much more difficult. The way the Blues have been going, we suddenly have reason to be optimistic.

Know Thy Foe

As mentioned, the Avalanche are three points ahead of the Blues right now. Colorado is one point behind Dallas, who lost in overtime to Toronto.

Colorado is also currently tied with Anaheim with 82 points. The Avs currently have the tie breaker with more regulation plus overtime wins or ROW. Colorado also has two games in hand on several of their counterparts.

The Avalanche have not been hot in terms of end results, but they are getting the job done as far as points go. Colorado is 5-1-4 in their last 10 games, but those four OT losses are still huge by picking up an extra four points. Colorado has also won two games in a row, including a huge 5-1 win over Minnesota.

The thing the Blues have going for them is Colorado is still not good away from the Pepsi Center. The Avs are 13-16-6 on foreign ice, so the Blues need to take advantage of their home ice.

The Avs are dealing with some injuries. They will likely be without Jonathan Bernier, Erik Johnson and Mark Barberio tonight and perhaps a few more.

Blues Tidbits

Discussing the Avs away record, the Blues home record is still not as good as you would like it to be. The Blues are 20-14-0 at the Scottrade Center. If nothing else, they need to keep that zero in the OT column.

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The Blues are 3-6-1 in their last 10, but won their last two games.

St. Louis has found a way to best Colorado each time this season. The Blues are 3-0-0 against the Avalanche this season, including a 6-1 win in February.

The Blues have outscored Colorado 13-5 this season, so hopefully the offensive outburst continues.

According to the team website, the Blues have some other good streaks going against the Avs.

"– Alex Pietrangelo has a three-game point streak (one goal, four assists)– Brayden Schenn has eight points in his last nine games (five goals, three assists)– Patrik Berglund has five points in his last six games (three goals, two assists)– Alexander Steen has three points in his last two games (one goal, two assists)– Ivan Barbashev has three points in five career games (one goal, two assists)– Jake Allen is 5-0-2 with a 1.54 goals-against average, a .947 save-percentage and one shutout in his last seven starts against Colorado"

Speaking of hot, the Blues are finally getting some secondary scoring. Robert Bortuzzo has goals in two-straight games, as does Ivan Barbashev, who also has points in four straight games.

Projected Lineup from the team website:

Forwards

Jaden Schwartz – Brayden Schenn – Vladimir Tarasenko
Patrik Berglund – Kyle Brodziak – Alexander Steen
Dmitrij Jaskin – Vladimir Sobotka – Tage Thompson
Nikita Soshnikov – Ivan Barbashev – Chris Thorburn

Defense

Carl Gunnarsson – Alex Pietrangelo
Vince Dunn – Colton Parayko
Joel Edmundson – Robert Bortuzzo

Goalie

Jake Allen

Good to see the Blues being smart about Joel Edmundson’s return. It’s great he’s back, but the team has been clicking with the current lineup.

Let Edmundson get back into the flow slowly. You feel bad for Carl Gunnersson, who has played well, but the team was clearly missing Edmuondson so his return is welcome.

Where To Watch

Television:

Fox Sports Midwest, Altitude2

Streaming:

Fox Sports Go App, NHL.tv (subscriber fee)

Radio:

KMOX, KMOX.com, Blues app

The puck drops tonight after 7 pm Central Time. It will be nice not to have to stay up until the we hours to see this game.

Prediction

I’m almost hesitant to do this since the Blues have been playing well with me saying they might lose. However, it pays to be honest.

I think the Blues come out on top in this game. It will be far from a 6-1 contest, but the Blues have been playing too well to pick against just for the sake of it.

Next: It's Been A Mixed Bag For Former Blues Performances

The one thing that worries me about this game is the fact the Blues have won every game against Colorado so far. The Avs have been inconsistent all season, so it’s not surprising. Despite that, it is hard to beat any team four straight times.

Still, I’ll say the Blues come out on top. The final will be 4-2 with a rare empty net goal.

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