The St. Louis Blues are set to face off against the Winnipeg Jets in an emotional and motivating contest. Last season's impeccable and magical playoff push and first-round slugfest between these two teams came down to the final seconds of game seven.
It will be a ferocious affair, as both teams were impacted by that series, and this season has not been nearly as successful for either team so far. Let's take a look at three Blues players to watch out for.
Jordan Binnington
The goaltending continues to be a thorn in the side of this team, just when things were starting to look a little bit better. Joel Hofer suffered a bit of a setback in the second act of the Nashville Predators saga this week, and now his chances of upstaging Jordan Binnington as this team's starter are in jeopardy.
Speaking of Binnington, he will likely be the netminder in this contest, and this could be one of his last chances to prove himself before anything dire happens. The franchise-leader in wins has a record of 2-3 over his previous five games, with an abysmal save percentage of .829. Can this finally be the game to move past his lackluster start to the season and start his comeback?
Robert Thomas
After his four-game point streak was snapped against the Predators on Monday, it is time to go on another one for Robert Thomas. This team is riddled with injuries, with Jimmy Snuggerud, Nathan Walker, Dylan Holloway, and Jordan Kyrou still on the sideline. Thomas has to lead the charge against a Jets team that has a two-headed monster in Kyle Connor and Mark Schefiele, who have both already eclipsed the 40-point plateau with 41 and 40 points, respectively.
Thomas leads the Blues offensive numbers with 23 points on the season. That would rank as the fifth-highest on the Jets' stat sheet. Can he start up another streak and be the sole difference maker against the Jets?
Logan Mailloux
Logan Mailloux has been better lately, but still not up to the expectations placed upon him. There is now a new problem, and that is his lack of discipline, as he has been on a bit of a streak with taking bad penalties. Of his 23 penalty minutes on the season, he has gathered 17 of them in the last five games.
This was abundantly clear in the most recent contest against Nashville, in which Mailloux sat in the sin bin for six minutes. He had a slashing/roughing penalty for four minutes in the first period and then followed that up with a holding call in the second period. Can he stay out of the box when the Blues and Jets go blow-for-blow in an anticipated slugfest?