The St. Louis Blues have little time to think about their home loss to the Nashville Predators. It’s back onto the road for a chance at redemption in Music City.
The St. Louis Blues sleptwalked through the first period of their Saturday afternoon game against the Nashville Predators. Their second period was fantastic, battling back for a 3-3 tie.
If only games were 40 minutes long, the Blues would have gotten a point at the very least. Sadly, they have to play 60 minutes and the Predators figured that out in the third period.
Now, following the 4-3 loss at the Enterprise Center, the Blues will travel to the southeast and look for a suddenly rare win in Nashville. Beyond just needing a win, St. Louis is trying to hold off a rising tide of teams within their division.
For their part, Nashville is trying to keep their postseason hopes alive. They have surged up the standings slightly after firing their coach, but are still on the outside looking in for the playoffs.
How They Stack Up
The St. Louis Blues somehow remain in first place in the Central Division and in the Western Conference. That might say more about the rest of the division than the Blues at this point, but we will take it.
St. Louis is stuck on 74 points in this season. They have 186 goals for and 170 given up.
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St. Louis has given up three or more goals in 11 straight games now. They are in desperate need of one of their goaltenders standing on their head or the defense getting their heads removed from their rears.
Perhaps we can find a way to blame the Philadelphia Flyers for all this. The 4-3 OT loss to Philly was what kickstarted all this lapse defending.
The Blues are now 2-6-2, meaning they have lost eight of their last 10 games. Any way you slice it, that is not good.
Nashville is 6-4-0 in their last 10, which is not fantastic. They are winners of their last two games though, so they’re scratching at the cliff, trying to keep themselves alive in the playoff hunt.
The Predators are 10 points behind the Blues with 63. However, with the logjam of teams above them, that puts them three points out of a playoff spot.
Nashville has not struggled to score as they have 187 goals for. It has been keeping pucks out of the net they have not done enough of, giving up 186 goals. Like the Blues, they are known for good defending and have not had enough of it or good goaltending.
For whatever reason, despite the Predators struggles and the Blues success earlier in the season, Nashville has the Blues number in 2019-20. The Blues are winless against the Predators this season, with an 0-2-1 record so far.
Projected Lineup
Here is the projected lineup from the team website:
Forwards
Schwartz – Schenn – Steen
Sanford – O’Reilly – Perron
Blais – Bozak – Thomas
MacEachern – Barbashev – Kyrou
Defense
Gunnarsson – Pietrangelo
Faulk – Parayko
Dunn – Bortuzzo
Goalies
Binnington/Allen
The goaltenders are a gametime decision, but I’d be surprised if it was not Binnington since Allen started last night.
Prediction
I honestly have no clue how this game will transpire. I thought the Blues would be helped by being at home in the last game and the first period was one of the worst 20 minutes we have seen from this team all season.
Then, when left for dead, the team seemed revived in the second period and then, perhaps, ran out of gas toward the third. So, what’s left in the tank for today? Will they continue to battle the opponent or the demons in their own heads?
To me, this one all depends on the start. While the Vegas game shows that leads are not safe, this game will still likely come down to how the Blues start this game.
If they get down by a couple goals again, they are not going to win. They have shown an ability to come from behind all year, but you can’t rely on that forever.
If St. Louis can get up by a couple goals, the Predators will likely fall back and not have that same come from behind mentality. For whatever reason, Nashville has not done as well at home, so hopefully the Blues can use that and get a W.
IF they start well, the Blues win 3-2.