St. Louis Blues hope to avoid getting Starstruck
By Todd Panula
The St. Louis Blues are on a roll of late and still on top of the division. Tonight’s opponent has rebounded from the last time we saw them though.
The last time the St. Louis Blues took on the Dallas Stars it ended in a blowout by rivalry standards. The Blues took the game by a final of 5-1.
The Blues would get as much as a six point lead on Dallas after that. Credit to the Stars though.
Instead of crumbling and fading from view, they rebounded. The Stars are still dueling with the Colorado Avalanche for second place and still reaching out to grab the Blues as well.
While St. Louis has assured themselves of the series win against Dallas, they find themselves in a spot of still needing to win. The Blues can’t afford the proverbial four point swing and must be as laser focused as we saw in Dallas not long ago.
How they stack up
The Blues are still sitting on top of the Western Conference. Their 38-17-10 record gives them 86 points.
86 points gives them a thin three point lead over Colorado and six points ahead of Dallas. The Vegas Golden Knights are lurking 6 points back too.
St. Louis has 209 goals for and 181 against. Not too bad for a team we complain lets in too many.
Dallas still struggles to score overall, as we saw earlier in February. They have 174 goals for and 164 against.
The Blues are 3-0-1 against the Stars this season. The longer loss was in OT at yhe stary of February. Whoever came up with the schedule that has the Blues against the Stars three times in February needs to lay off the drugs.
The Blues are going for their seventh win in a row. Dallas lost their last game but are still 7-2-1 in their last 10.
Projected lineup
Here is tonight’s lineup from the team website:
Forwards
Schwartz – O’Reilly – Schenn
Sanford – Thomas – Perron
de la Rose – Bozak – Steen
Blais – Sundqvist – Barbashev
Defense
Gunnarsson – Pietrangelo
Scandella – Parayko
Dunn – Faulk
Goalie
Allen
Thank goodness Blais is back in there. We have seen conflicting reasons as to whybhe missed the last game, but as long as we dont have seven defensemen, it’s all good.
That said, unfortunately Jordan Kyrou is now out. He apparently is sick, so maybe he has what Petro had awhile ago. Regardless, Jacob de la Rose is back in.
Jake Allen gets the start, which I like on the surface. However, though Binnington needs a break, I’m not all-in on playing Allen mostly because he beat Dallas the last time.
Prediction
I apologize in advance, but I’m likely to be the cause if the Blues lose tonight.
My college basketball team and my English Premier League team all play today. I have a very poor record of all three getting wins on the same day, soooo…
Let’s just hope the Blues come out hard because they’ve got the universe working against them.
The Blues proved they were the better team the last time out. Dallas just doesnt stack up well.
However, with my odd track record with the 3 teams, I’ll say Blues lose in OT. 4-3 will be the final.