St. Louis Blues: Streaking Blues Look To Avenge Ugly Loss
By Jason Martin
The St. Louis Blues will end a season-long seven game homestand on Sunday afternoon against a team they lost to just one week ago, the Minnesota Wild.
The St. Louis Blues are currently 4-2 on this homestand and have quietly gotten themselves back in the division race. This can be attributed to many different factors like Jay Bouwmeester not playing, Ryan O’Reilly continuing this ridiculous scoring run, among others.
St. Louis will look to avenge one of the worst losses this season when one week ago the Wild came into St. Louis and ran the Blues out of the building, beating them by a score of 5-1.
Minnesota Wild (2nd Place In Central)
Record: 10-4-2
Last 10: 8-2-2
Season Series: MIN Leads 1-0
Point Leaders: Mikael Granlund (17), Zach Parise (15)
This Wild team has not gotten any worse over the past week since the Blues last saw them. Minnesota is coming off a 5-1 road victory in Anaheim and has won eight of their last ten games.
The big guns are still getting it done for the Wild as well, led by goalie Devan Dubnyk in goal, it will take all hands on deck if the Blues want to finish off this homestand strong.
More from Analysis
- St. Louis Blues and Cardinals Similar In All The Wrong Ways
- St. Louis Blues Pros/Cons From 2022-23 Game 82 At Dallas
- St. Louis Blues Pros/Cons From 2022-23 Game 81 Vs Dallas
- St. Louis Blues Pros/Cons From 2022-23 Game 80 At Minnesota
- St. Louis Blues Pros/Cons From 2022-23 Game 79 Vs NY Rangers
Some of you may be wondering why I said “Streaking Blues” in the title, and although it may not feel like they are streaking, they are.
Winners of four of their last five, St. Louis has started playing to their potential. After winning the offseason, the Blues struggles seemed insurmountable.
The team was allowing three-plus goals just about every game this year, Bouwmeester continued to get top line minutes, and the Blues were not playing like we all knew they could.
Unsurprisingly, things started to change when changes to the lineup were made. Carl Gunnarsson returned from injury which forced veteran defensemen Bouwmeester to the bench. Gunnarsson was then placed on the top pairing with Alex Pietrangelo which has resulted in the captain finding his game as well.
There won’t be many lineup changes for Sunday’s matinee game against Minnesota; the team does not usually hold a morning skate with an early start, so we won’t know if Patrick Maroon will be reinserted back into the lineup or will continue to be a healthy scratch.
Next. Chad Johnson Creating Another Goalie Controversy. dark
Chad Johnson is expected to get another start in net and has earned the right to stay there as long as he continues to play at the same level that he has played the past two games. This, either intentionally or unintentionally, has sparked yet another conversation about whether or not Jake Allencycled to be cycled in and out of the lineup on a regular basis.