Puck Drop Preview: St. Louis Blues vs. Seattle Kraken

It’s the St. Louis Blues vs. Seattle Kraken in St. Louis’ 2nd game of the season tonight at Climate Pledge Arena in the Emerald City. The Blues are a few days removed from their season opener last Saturday at home, where they handily defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-2 despite the presence of Johnny Gaudreau.

Seattle, on the other hand, has had a less-than-ideal start to their 2nd season in the league, losing their last 2 at home to Vegas and Carolina, respectively. Their only win thus far came in a 4-1 effort in Los Angeles over the Kings about 1 week ago.

Jordan Binnington is expected to make his second start of the season for St. Louis where he will face former Avalanche netminder Philipp Grubauer. Grubauer himself will begin his 2nd season with Seattle after his debut outing in 2021-22. He was traded to Seattle from Colorado after the 2020-21 season.

Binnington was rarely tested in the regular-season opener, turning aside 23 of the 25 shots he faced for the victory. He also didn’t face the Kraken in their inaugural season in 2021-22.

To the oponnent’s side, Grubauer has gotten off to a rough start, just like the rest o his team, allowing 5 goals in each of his 2 starts. He helped them to a 5-4 OT loss in Anaheim last Wednesday but was buried by the Hurricanes 5-1 Monday.

Of course, Seattle has played at least two games against contender teams already this season in Carolina and Vegas. But facing St. Louis, even on home ice, may be a challenge for them- they’re 0-0-3 all time vs. the Blues, including a 5-0 home loss this past January.

Going into this game, the Blues are seen as the favorites for tonight’s matchup. They’re well rested, having played just 1 game, which was last Saturday.

While this is its first road contest of the season for the Blues, which makes it a little bit of concern, Seattle has dropped each of their games at CPA so far. Sure, it’s only 2 games, but keep in mind Seattle’s overall record this season so far is a lackluster 1-2-1.

That’s not an ideal start, as that puts them 19th overall in the league standings. Funny enough, St. Louis is actually one spot below them in 20th, but they’ve played far fewer games than many other teams to start. For the record, the 10 best teams in the league right now have played at least 3 games each.

The Blues and Kraken matchup will be an easy victory for the boys wearing the Blue Note. As for the team wearing the tentacled S with a red eye, they may be looking at a 3rd straight home defeat. The Kraken will not be unleashed this night.