St. Louis Blues Hope To Channel Inner Conan Against Chicago

It is the St. Louis Blues against the Chicago Blackhawks. The Blues are hoping to exert some dominance fitting of the gap in the standings.

Ladies and gentlemen, St. Louis Blues fans of all ages, welcome to the grudgematch of the centurrrryyy. What’s that?

It doesn’t matter as much now? Oh, well that stinks.

But, that’s the truth these days. There will always be that little part of our brains that doesn’t want our main rivals to do well and wallow in their self pity as they sit in the basement, but the truth is when either the Blues or Chicago Blackhawks are not good, it takes away from the fun of the rivalry.

Other than arguing with trolls, there is not much fun in poking an aging bear with fur falling off that just kind of grumbles at you. You don’t get that same thrill as when you jab a grizzly bear in their prime, knowing your life is on the line. That’s the way it is right now though.

Chicago had a decent run toward the middle of the season and even threatened a playoff spot. Now, they’re back to the land that time forgot. All the Blues can do at this point is channel their inner-Conan the Barbarian and try to crush their enemies, since that is what is best in life.

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The Blues do have a bad habit of playing up or down to their competition – no offense, but it would be down this evening. So, they need to find that inner warrior that will smite their foe no matter how weak their record might say they seem.

How they stack up

If we only counted regular wins and losses, Chicago might not be that bad. They’d be at .500 with a 27-27 record. It’s those pesky overtime losses that put their winning percentage a little lower, so they’re 27-27-8 with 62 points.

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That’s a full 20 points behind the Blues. We all knew their contracts would come back to haunt them, but I’m not sure anyone could have imagined a scenario where one team or the other was 20 points behind.

For their part, the Blues are still atop the division and the conference. The Colorado Avalanche, who made some minor trades to bolster themselves, are nipping at the heels with 79 points compared to the 82 for the Blues. St. Louis has played two extra games compared to the Avs, however, so wins are still important.

St. Louis has won four games in a row to turn the tables on a five-game losing streak. They’re also now 5-3-2 in their last 10.

Chicago lost their last game – A 2-1 loss to the Stars, where Chicago couldn’t help us out a little. The Blackhawks are 2-6-2 in their last 10.

Chicago may have officially given up on the season at the deadline, not to many’s surprise. They traded Robin Lehner and Erik Gustafsson to Vegas and Calgary respectively. Corey Crawford has played well, but Lehner was a pleasant surprise, so I’m a bit surprised they went that direction.

Nevertheless, Chicago has fallen off in offense and defense. Only four teams in the west have fewer goals than Chicago’s 182 and 197 is the most given up in the division. The funny thing is if their offense was still alive, they’d have a shot since Vegas has given up 196 goals but sits atop the Pacific since they can score (208 goals).

Projected lineup

Here is the projected lineup from the team website:

Forwards

Schwartz – O’Reilly – Schenn
Sanford – Thomas – Perron
Steen – Bozak – Kyrou
Barbashev – Sundqvist – Blais

Defense

Gunnarsson – Pietrangelo
Scandella – Parayko
Dunn – Faulk

Goalie

Binnington

Good to see Bozak back in the lineup. I know they said it was not serious but you can never tell when it’s lower body.

I’d personally rather see Blais where Steen is at, but they’ve done well with the combos lately.

Prediction

I came somewhat close on my last prediction, getting the win right but not the score or the margin of victory. Oh well, it’s not as though those things gain you extra money with the bookies, right?

Anyway, the reason this game scares me is because no matter how good or bad one team is, this series always produces games that the other gets up for. When the Blues were in the dumps, they were still striving to be like Chicago and play up to their level. Now, the situation is reversed.

The Blues have already beaten Chicago once this season, which means the shoe might drop at any moment. There has actually only been one regular season series sweep by either team. Chicago beat St. Louis in all six games back in the 1971-72 season.

Nevertheless, I don’t see the Blues letting the Blackhawks ruin their fun tonight. So, maybe it’ll be the next game.

Blues win this one 4-2.