The St. Louis Blues are red-hot, and they travel to face off against an ice-cold New York Rangers squad at Madison Square Garden. Do the Blues keep their win streak alive, or can the Blueshirts snap it and break back into reality?.
Jimmy Snuggerud
The Blues truly have something special in their first-line winger, Jimmy Snuggerud. On the pursuit of 50 goals this season, he is showing up every single game as a definitive X-Factor.
This is going to be a solid test for him as he faces this free-falling Rangers team. Rookie goaltender Dylan Garand is going to be the net-minder on the other side, and he has lost his charm as of late.
Snuggerud can take advantage of that and potentially get on the board more than once for the first time all season. His team-leading eight goals have come in eight separate games.
Justin Barron
With news of Logan Mailloux making his way to Springfield for some conditioning, the match has been lit under defenseman Justin Barron. The waiver claim has been solid thus far, but his time for a demotion is coming with No. 23 making his way back.
A solid performance against the Rangers is a good resume builder. The Blueshirts have a solid top-six with Pavel Dorofeyev, Mika Zibanejad, and Alexis Lafreniere to go against, which gives Barron a chance to impress the Blues brass by shutting them down. Should Mailloux fumble his return, this game could be looked back on as a case study for why Barron should remain as one of the first-pair defenseman.
Jordan Binnington / Joel Hofer
It has yet to be determined if this will be Joel Hofer or Jordan Binnington in the net for the Blues. Whoever it is will have a big part in this game, as there is a lot more uncertainty on the other net. For the first time all season, it seems the Blues have the advantage with their goaltending.
Whoever gets the nod has to face a good offensive unit from the Rangers, but it is a manageable one. The bigger problem will be in scoring support and shots on goal from the Blues, as the last six periods of hockey have not been very good in the shots department.
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