The St. Louis Blues are trying to keep their winning streak alive in one of the tougher places to play. They take on the Vegas Golden Knights this evening.
The St. Louis Blues remain in uncharted territory. They are currently riding their longest winning streak of the 2017-18 season. Now, they try to keep that momentum alive against the Vegas Golden Knights.
The Golden Knights have been the biggest surprise of the season in the NHL. While the league set things up for them to have success, nobody expected them to top the Pacific Division or even make the playoffs. Thanks to a solid cast of characters and coach Gerard Gallant, they have sustained things the entire year.
The Blues will be going into the wolf’s lair tonight, playing on the road. Vegas has been one of the best home teams all season, so the Blues will be hard pressed to come out with a victory.
Though this is not a rivalry situation, these teams have played each other very closely. Both games between these two teams have only been decided by one goal.
The Blues need to come away with points to keep themselves above the playoff line. Colorado, Anaheim and Los Angeles are all in action tonight as well, so the Blues cannot fall flat.
Know Thy Enemy
As mentioned, Vegas is one of the best teams in the NHL at home. With a record of 27-10-2, only Winnipeg and Pittsburgh have more wins on their home ice.
The Golden Knights come in as the first place team in the Pacific Division with 103 points. They have a record of 46-22-7 and are trying to maintain a five point lead on San Jose, who is barely creeping within distance.
Vegas has been a little shakier lately. They are 5-3-2 in their last 10 games and lost 3-2 to Arizona on March 28.
The Golden Knights won the only meeting between these two teams in Vegas earlier this season. They won in overtime, 3-2.
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Vegas has had a few injury problems of late. Unless something changes, they will be without William Carrier, Lucas Sbisa, Reilly Smith and David Perron.
Even without Perron, the Golden Knights have a potent scoring attack. William Karlsson and Jon Marchessault are both 70-point scorers, with Karlsson having 40 goals.
Blues Tidbits
The Blues do have a win over Vegas. St. Louis won the only game in St. Louis by a final of 2-1 back on January 4.
As mentioned, the Blues are trying to stay above the playoff line. They are one point above Colorado, tied on points with Anaheim and two behind Los Angeles. So, Blues fans will want to be rooting for Arizona and Los Angeles in their respective games and no overtimes.
St. Louis is playing the front end of a back to back, having to play Arizona tomorrow.
The Blues have a 12-9-1 record against the Pacific Division, which is normally tough for St. Louis. The Blues also have a four-game win streak against the teams out west.
St. Louis is hopeful to have Scottie Upshall back either in tonight’s game or the one in Arizona.
Forwards
Jaden Schwartz – Brayden Schenn – Vladimir Tarasenko
Patrik Berglund – Kyle Brodziak – Alexander Steen
Dmitrij Jaskin – Vladimir Sobotka – Ivan Barbashev
Scottie Upshall – Oskar Sundqvist – Chris Thorburn
Defense
Joel Edmundson – Alex Pietrangelo
Vince Dunn – Colton Parayko
Robert Bortuzzo – Jordan Schmaltz
Goalie
It’s good to see Upshall back in there, though the exclusion of Tage Thompson is a little disappointing.
You can look at the goalie situation two ways. One, Allen has been hot so gives you the better chance to win against the team with the better record. Or, you could have saved Allen for tomorrow since Arizona has been hot. Either way, I think it is likely Carter Hutton plays this weekend.
Where To Watch
Television:
Fox Sports Midwest, ATT Sports Net
Streaming:
Fox Sports Go, NHL.tv (subscriber fee)
Radio:
KMOX, KMOX.com, Blues app
The puck drops very late in this one. It’ll be just after 9:30 when this game begins.
Prediction
This is going to be a very interesting game. Luckily, all the games of interest are out west, so the Blues won’t have time to scoreboard watch.
They have to be singularly focused on Vegas. Though Vegas has been hit or miss lately, they are still dangerous.
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I think the Blue manage to ride their wave of momentum though. They’re going to have moments when they struggle, still trying to get used to a new building and new atmosphere. Nevertheless, I think they come prepared.
I see this one going to overtime, but the Blues pulling another one out of you know where. St. Louis steals this one 3-2, in a reversal of the first game played between these two.