St. Louis Blues Look To Stay Hot As NY Islanders Hit Town

The St. Louis Blues look to stay hot to hold off their divisional rivals. The New York Islanders are looking to just hold on.

The St. Louis Blues have long endured the ridiculousness of the Western Conference and their division. For years, if not decades, they had to face one of the most difficult divisions in all of sports.

Every time it seemed like the Blues were ascending toward the top, they had to go against rivals that were all-time greats. Those great Blues teams of the late 1990’s and early 2000’s got lost in the shuffle because they had the Detroit Red Wings to go against.

The Blues of the early 1990’s and late 2000’s/early 2010’s had the pleasure of going against the Chicago Blackhawks. Both sets of those Hawks teams were loaded with Hall of Fame players.

Even when those teams were not at their best, there was always another team right on the level with the Blues or better. Nashville in recent years, Minnesota got in the way – whether North Stars or Wild, the Dallas Stars at times and even the Toronto Maple Leafs when they were in the same division.

Now, while the Western Conference still presents a far greater challenge as far as travel goes and things are still very tight, the Blues have actually ascended to the team everyone else is measuring by. Conversely, the Metropolitan Division may have replaced the Central for pure insanity.

Tonight’s opponent, the New York Islanders, are fighting for their playoff lives despite having just two fewer overall wins than the Blues. Their division is so tight that the Islanders could conceivably finish in first or second to last.

The only team that is basically out of the running in the Metro is the New Jersey Devils with 60 points. The team that is second to last, the New York Rangers, have won four games in a row and still find themselves that low in the standings.

The Rangers have 72 points in second to last. The Washington Capitals have 84 points in first. The Philadelphia Flyers, currently sitting in the final divisional guaranteed spot, have 79 points. Sandwiched between all of that is the Islanders, Columbus Blue Jackets and Carolina Hurricanes.

Anything as small as a two game losing streak or winning streak could completely reshuffle everything except the top two teams of Washington and Pittsburgh. All the other divisions have decent races going on and lots of teams still alive, but it is nothing like that.

So, the Blues need to realize they will be facing a determined team.

How they stack up

The Blues come into tonight’s game with a record of 37-17-10. They have won their last five games and have 84 points.

More from Bleedin' Blue

The Blues have scored 206 goals and given up 179. While we complain a lot about goals given up or lack of scoring, only the Colorado Avalanche have a bigger goal differential than St. Louis in the Western Conference.

The problem the Blues have is everyone else keeps winning. While St. Louis has won five in a row, Dallas has won two and Colorado has won four.

Similarly, the Islanders were hoping other teams might fall off, but that has not happened. New York lost their last game and are 4-5-1 in their last 10. Philadelphia, the team the Islanders are now chasing, has won four games in a row.

The only thing holding the Isles up is that Columbus has one win in their last 10 games and that Carolina and the Rangers were farther behind when they got hot.

The Islanders record is not that dissimilar to the Blues. They are 35-20-7 for 77 points.

As typical of Barry Trotz, the Islanders win with defense. They have only scored 179 goals but only given up 168, which is actually the second fewest given up in the Eastern Conference and third fewest in the league.

There has been an odd back and forth between the Islanders and Blues over the last seven years.

The Islanders won both games played in 2018-19 and 2015-16. The teams split in 2017-2018 and 2016-2017. The Blues won both games in 2014-2015 and 2013-2014.

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
Bortuzzo

Goalie

Binnington

The asterisk next to Sammy Blais‘ name is due to him being a gametime decision. He’s been getting knocked around quite a bit and also took another puck to the wrist, so I could see him missing a game.

However, what is upsetting about this gametime decision is the fact the projected lineup seems to indicate that Robert Bortuzzo would play if Blais cannot go.

What in the hell is the reason for that? You have an expanded roster now. Troy Brouwer just got brought back up. Mackenzie MacEachern has been a healthy scratch.

Why in the world would you go with that truly awful roster of seven defensemen and 11 forwards when you have at least two healthy forwards waiting for a look?

These lineup guesses are mainly based on practice lines during morning skates, so let’s hope that’s all it is – a guess. It is an irrational response, but I hate the 11 forward roster and it would make absolutely no sense when you have guys that are available to step into an actual forward spot.

Predictions

The Blues are the favorites in this game according to the prognosticators. However, this game gives me weird vibes.

The Blues have played so well up until the game against the Chicago Blackhawks. While the Islanders don’t score like Chicago still can, they defend a heck of a lot better.

The Blues cannot afford to play anywhere near as loose as they did against Chicago. The Islanders will shut them down and take advantage of the mistakes too.

St. Louis needs a good start to this one. If they allow the Islanders to get an early goal or their goaltender/defense to get hot, the Blues might not be able to come back.

St. Louis wins as long as they play Blues hockey and I’ll say a score of 3-2. If they come out loose, however, the Islanders take the game 2-1.

At least we get to see those 90’s retro jerseys though, right?