St. Louis Blues Might Make Deal With Devils To End Streak
The St. Louis Blues have struggled of late. A deal with the Devils might be what can end the losing streak
The St. Louis Blues are trying to find a recipe for success. Unfortunately, all the things they have tried have just led to more losses.
The Blues have tried making changes in net. They have tried different defensive pairs, whether due to ineffectiveness or injury.
They have tried a variety of forward combinations as well. None of it has worked in recent games.
At this point, it all boils down to the players just doing a better job, both collectively and individually. Of course, that is easier said than done but still.
Now, the New Jersey Devils come to St. Louis. The Devils might be one of the worst teams in the Eastern Conference, but they are still going to be tougher than the Blues might be ready for.
St. Louis has to find their A-game tonight.
How They Stack Up
The St. Louis Blues are still in first place, but only by a technicality. The Dallas Stars have now caught up with them as both teams have 74 points.
The only reason the Blues get the nod for the top spot over the Stars at this moment is because the Blues have fewer regulation losses. However, the Stars have more wins and more ROW which means if the Blues keep losing, they will fall out of that top spot.
St. Louis comes into tonight’s game at 32-17-10. They have 187 goals for and 172 against. That last number is worse than Dallas and Colorado, who most would not have considered superior defensive teams prior to the year.
For their part, the Devils come into this game in last place in the Metropolitan Division. They have 54 points and a record of 22-26-10.
New Jersey can score, with 162 goals for. But, they struggle to keep them out, giving up 204.
However, if you think this game will be easy, think again. Despite their overall record, the Devils are 5-2-3 in their last 10 games. That’s not the greatest record ever, but it’s far better than the Blues 2-6-2.
The reason why it might be good to play the Devils is the Blues are unbeaten against New Jersey in five years. The last time they lost to the Devils was in January of 2014.
St. Louis has not played New Jersey yet this season, so we will see how it ends up.
Projected Lineup
Here is the projected lineup from the team website:
Forwards
Schwartz – O’Reilly – Schenn
Sanford – Thomas – Perron
Steen – Bozak – Kyrou
Blais – Sundqvist – Barbashev
Defense
Gunnarsson – Pietrangelo
Faulk – Parayko
Dunn – Bortuzzo
Binnington
I’m a little surprised at the amount of changes to the forward lines. However, I can’t see anything wrong with any of them.
Hopefully Thomas going back to center will spark him and his linemates. O’Reilly and the other duo also need to start showing something as well.
Prediction
The Blues losing streak has to end somewhere at some time. What better place than now against this team?
The Devils have been OK as of late, but they’re a bad team. This is just the sort of team the Blues should be able to beat up on.
We should not expect a win tonight based solely on records. However, if each team plays to their best, the Blues are a better team.
Even a win tonight would not fix everything. Sometimes wins can be fool’s gold, like the one against Carolina.
At this point, we cannot care about that. The Blues need points and to get points you need wins by any means necessary.
The Blues win this one and get a little angry in doing so. 4-1 is your final.