St. Louis Blues Face Surging Vancouver In First Game After Break

The St. Louis Blues had better have gotten well rested during the All-Star break. They open the second half with a surging Vancouver Canucks team.

A few weeks ago when St. Louis Blues fans looked at the schedule after the All-Star break, they probably shrugged and thought it would likely be a couple wins right off the bat. That might end up being the case, but it no longer looks like a breeze as it might have before.

In fact, things have turned on their heads. With the last few remaining games prior to the break, while the Blues were getting a few extra days of rest, the Vancouver Canucks surged up the standings.

The Canucks are now in first place in the Pacific Division. Things won’t get any easier on this Canadian road trip either as the next two games after that are against Calgary and Edmonton, both of whom are tied for second in the Pacific and only one point behind Vancouver.

The odd thing about all this is, due to the closeness of everyone out west, the Blues have had to play a first place team almost every time they’ve played someone from the Pacific recently. Vegas was in first just a few days prior to their last game with the Blues, though they might have actually dipped into second by the time the puck dropped. The Arizona Coyotes topped the division the last time they faced the Blues too.

How They Stack Up

The Blues come into their first game out of the All-Star break with a slightly slimmer lead of just six points over Colorado in the division. They are still 10 points up on the Pacific with 68 points compared to Vancouver’s 58.
The Blues have scored 158 goals and allowed 134.

Vancouver has won two straight, four of their last five and 11 of the last 14 to get to the top spot in the Pacific. They have an overall record of 27-18-4 with 162 goals scored and 149 given up. The Canucks are one of three teams in the conference with more goals than St. Louis at this point of the season.

It has been an up and down result against the Canucks in recent years. The Blues swept the season series back in 2017-18.

Despite finishing under .500 and nine points out of the playoffs in 2018-19, they won the series over the Blues. Vancouver split the two games in St. Louis that year and won the lone game in Canada. It should be noted that the two losses came in December, when the Blues were still in their swoon and near the bottom of the standings.

Vancouver has played the Blues very tough so far this season. With the Blues being 1-0-1, the win came in overtime and the loss went to a shootout.

Projected Lineup

The projected lineup was not yet released at the time of completion.

What we do know is that Colton Parayko has been activated off the IR list. He is expected to be in the lineup against the Canucks. One would assume he will be reunited with Jay Bouwmeester, but time will tell.

Prediction

Theoretically, the Canucks would be a more rested team. They had two All-Stars, Elias Pettersson and Jacob Markstrom, compared to the four for the Blues.

The only caveat to that is they had to play two games since the Pacific won the All-Star Game. The Blues also have the advantage of not having to travel to and from the event, so they got more time at home and sleep in their own beds.

Despite the disparity in how the teams entered the break, I think St. Louis will come out well.

The Blues have lost two in a row, but they often do not let losing streaks get to three and if they do they still rebound. St. Louis also plays up to their competition, so knowing Vancouver is a first place team will likely bring the best out of the Blues in their first game out.

It will be another close game, but the Blues pull this one out. 4-3 good guys at the end.