St. Louis Blues: December Begins With Injury Filled Game vs Arizona
By Jason Martin
The St. Louis Blues are coming off a costly win over the Colorado Avalanche last night as two key players left the game due to injuries.
The St. Louis Blues are coming off of their first one-goal win of the season when they beat the Avalanche 3-2 in overtime. That game was arguably the most fun game to watch and the Blues did not let us down.
However, during the win, both Alexander Steen and Alex Pietrangelo both went down with an injury and with no morning skate this morning, we won’t know whether or not they will be available tonight against the Arizona Coyotes.
Arizona Coyotes (7th Place In Pacific)
Record: 11-11-2
Last 10: 4-5-1
Point Leaders: Clayton Keller (15), Nick Schmaltz (13)
The Coyotes were expected to take a step forward this season after being at the bottom of the Pacific Division over the past few seasons. Led by St. Louisan Keller, the Coyotes have won two in a row and are looking to take advantage of a banged-up Blues team.
St. Louis will also have their hands full with former Chicago Blackhawk Schmaltz who was recently acquired by Arizona for a handful of players. The Blues are familiar with his game, but when right, Schmaltz is a game changer.
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It’s hard to imagine how well the Blues would have played this year if they have been healthy all season long.
Jaden Schwartz has been out with an injury for the past few weeks, Robert Bortuzzo just returned to the lineup yesterday, Carl Gunnarsson has been injured almost all season, and now Steen and Petro are hurt.
The Blues may have temporary placements to replace both of these players. Robert Thomas and Jordan Schmaltz were healthy scratches against Colorado and those players are logical replacements to slide into the lineup.
Obviously, the loss of Pietrangelo would be monumental to St. Louis. The captain is the heart and soul of the team and plays in every scenario possible for the Blues. There are hardly any players in the league that can replace a player like Pietrangelo.
One of the other aspects of this game to keep an eye out for as players start to get into Glendale, is the goaltending situation. Jake Allen has been nothing shy of spectacular in November and I think it would be a mistake to start Chad Johnson tonight.
The last time the Blues had a back-to-back, was the night Patrick Laine scored five goals against Johnson and the Blues. Allen was coming off a win against the Nashville Predators and even though it was a back-to-back, starting Allen was probably the right choice.
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When you look at the standings, the Blues are eight points behind the Dallas Stars for the second Wild Card spot. There is still a lot of seasons left, and although my optimism has been tested over the first two months of the season, there is still plenty of time left to rattle off a significant winning streak to get the Blues back in the race.