Load the Nintendo, St. Louis Blues Want To Play Duck Hunt

The St. Louis Blues came fresh off a losing streak only to start a winning streak. Now, they look to keep the good home vibes going against Anaheim.

The St. Louis Blues continue proving themselves as one of the best teams in the league. While they have their hiccups, their losing streaks are kept short and immediately gone on winning streaks right after.

After a three game losing streak ended their most recent road trip, the Blues have now posted a three game winning streak. They will look to keep that alive and growing when they face the Anaheim Ducks tonight.

The team is playing well, if a little loose on the defensive end. Some of their key players are riding high on some hot streaks.

David Perron made the All-Star Game based on the fan vote and also his point production. The Blues forward has goals in four straight games and and six points over that same span.

The Blues will seek to keep momentum, going with a mostly unchanged lineup. They will also try to overcome their nuisance habit of playing down to other team’s ability levels.

How They Stack Up

As we all know, the Blues continue to lead the division and the conference. They come into this game with a record of 29-10-7 and 65 points. That puts them nine points up on Dallas and 10 points up on the Calgary Flames.

More from Bleedin' Blue

The Ducks enter this game as the worst team in the conference. They have a record of 17-23-5 with 39 points. The Ducks have also lost three straight.

St. Louis has 148 goals for and 124 against. The Ducks have scored 115 while giving up 143.

In their three game streak, the Blues have beaten San Jose, Buffalo and the New York Rangers by a margin of 13-5. Anaheim’s three game streak has seen them lose to Columbus, Dallas and Chicago by a margin of 11-5.

Similar to the Rangers, it has been a mixed bag against Anaheim in recent years. Since 2017, the teams have split, with the Blues going 5-5-0 and Anaheim 5-4-1.

The one thing the Ducks have going for them is the knowledge they can beat the Blues. Even as currently constituted, the Ducks defeated St. Louis 4-1 back in November. Things have clearly gone south for them since then, but that does not take away the fact they soundly beat St. Louis this season.

Oddly enough, though St. Louis has had their struggles against the Ducks out west, they have not won a home game against Anaheim since March of 2017.

Projected Lineup

Here is the projected lineup from Chris Pinkert of the team website:

Forwards

Schwartz – Schenn – Sundqvist
Sanford – O’Reilly – Perron
Steen – Thomas – Bozak
MacEachern – de la Rose – Barbashev

Defense

Dunn – Pietrangelo
Bouwmeester – Faulk
Mikkola – Bortuzzo

Goalie

Allen / Binnington

Despite Carl Gunnarsson being medically cleared, he will not be reinserted right away. The Blues staff seem to like the way Niko Mikkola is playing and how the defensive duos are getting chemistry.

“I know I’ve switched a forward here and there, but the defense corps is good right now, looks strong. I’m going to keep that the same,” Craig Berube told the team website.

The goaltender will be a gametime decision.

Prediction

Well, the last game I did get the win correct, but not the score. There’s always a next time though.

For this one, the Blues just have to get out of their own way. St. Louis has a habit of playing down to their competition and also for ending other team’s losing streaks.

Some of that is based on a general feeling from past seasons, but even this season the Blues have done that at times. If they play their game and their style, Anaheim does not stand a chance, short of getting a hot goaltender.

With all that in mind, I think the Blues have a mixed bag in this game. I think they play down to their competition a little bit, but find themselves in the end, the way they did against the Rangers.

I see this one being a 4-2 win for the good guys. Please, do not take that to the bank.

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