The St. Louis Blues have been on a roll over their last seven. They will look for number eight against the New York Rangers.
The St. Louis Blues have been on a heck of a roll the last week or so. They have rattled off seven straight wins, which set a franchise record, since this was the third streak of seven or more wins to come within 2019-20.
We all know that the streak will end at some point. The Blues are just trying to make sure it does not end tonight as they play the New York Rangers.
This will be the second and final time the Blues play the Rangers this season. Madison Square Garden is not the easiest place to win, however, even when the team is not at its best over the course of a season.
The Blues also cannot afford to let their streak end just yet. The Colorado Avalanche keep winning, despite injuries.
The Avalanche have had the benefit of schedule their last handful of games. Last night, they picked up a win over the Detroit Red Wings that was probably not as close as a 2-1 score would indicate.
The Blues cannot worry too much about the Avalanche at this point. The Blues have to worry more about themselves and getting their own health right.
We near the return of Vladimir Tarasenko, but do not expect it before the end of March and maybe not until April. Sammy Blais is still getting back to form and, even if they don’t list anything wrong, there just appears to be something off about David Perron‘s current fitness.
Hopefully this easy travel week in New York/New Jersey will help rest up those legs.
How they stack up
With the Avalanche creeping up, the Blues lead seems more and more tenuous. The Blues are a mere one point up in the division/conference standings with 88 points and a record of 39-17-10. Those OT and shootout losses are starting to seem like more of a burden than originally thought. Colorado has a game in hand still too.
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Meanwhile, the once red hot Rangers have cooled off. After getting back into the playoff race with their own extended win streak, New York has lost their last two games. Making things worse for them, both games saw them allow an identical five goals, 5-3 and 5-2, against their rival, the Philadelphia Flyers.
Still, the Rangers are 7-3-0 in their last 10. The Blues are 7-2-1.
The Rangers have scored 217 goals and given up 203, so their offense is slightly higher than the Blues. St. Louis has scored 213 but only given up 184.
The Blues took down the Rangers in St. Louis back in mid-January by a score of 5-2. This season series has had quite a few sweeps the last few seasons, so the Blues might be in line to see that continue.
Four of the last six seasons, one team or the other has taken both games during the year.
Projected lineup
Here is the projected lineup from the team website:
Forwards
Schwartz – O’Reilly – Schenn
Sanford – Thomas – Perron
de la Rose – Bozak – Steen
Blais – Barbashev – Sundqvist
Defense
Gunnarsson – Pietrangelo
Scandella – Parayko *
Dunn – Faulk
Goalie
Binnington
So the Blues continue to be down with the sickness and 8 dont mean the Disturbed song. Colton Parayko is the latest with the bug and will be a gametime decision.
One would think Robert Bortuzzo would just slide in but who knows. Maybe theyll go with 13 forwards for no reason at all.
Prediction
Funny thing, I actually got the score correct on the last game but I figured it would go the other way. Maybe I should predict more Blues losses? Nah.
As far as the complete package, the Blues are by far the better team. However, things are tight in the NHL this season as the Rangers, who are second from last in the crazy Metro Division, only have four fewer wins than the Blues.
The Rangers also have enough in all three categories – scoring, defense and goaltending – that they can steal any game. This is not one the Blues can just wade into.
The Blues are the betting favorite. Still, I might not be as confident as the Vegas bookies.
St. Louis actually plays worse when having two days off than no days off, so the extra rest, while beneficial to the legs, is not good. That said, I think the Blues still find a way to win what might end up being an ugly game.
Blues take this one 2-1