First off, an apology: sorry we're late with the weekly preview! That said, I can't say the one game we didn't preview, yesterday's matchup against the Nashville Predators, was all that good for the St. Louis Blues. The Preds just seem to have the Blues' number this season.
Anyway, let's take a glance at who's left on the schedule for the week.
vs. Winnipeg Jets, 12/17
What's with the Presidents' Trophy-winning teams immediately taking a step back? The New York Rangers won two seasons ago and haven't been back to the playoffs since, and now the Winnipeg Jets are on the outside looking in with their 15-15-2 record. The Jets haven't been playing well, and Connor Hellebuyck was papering over a lot of their deficiencies--until he missed several weeks due to injury. He's back now, though, and while he's not playing to the level we normally expect of the Vezina-winner, the Blues drawing Hellebuyck would be rough.
vs. New York Rangers, 12/18
The Rangers are really going through it. They're 15-15-4 in a crowded Eastern Conference, they recently scratched one of their veteran players, Adam Fox is injured, and they can't win at home. Unfortunately for the Blues, this game's in St. Louis, and the Rangers are 12-5-1 on the road.
@ Florida Panthers, 12/20
The Blues are facing three straight teams that have fallen short of expectations (though to be fair, the Blues have also fallen short of expectations). The Florida Panthers are--shockingly--outside the playoff picture in the Eastern Conference, sitting at 17-13-2. There are two major reasons: injuries to Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk, and Sergei Bobrovsky managing only an .888 save percentage. Tkachuk should be back soon, and Bob could rebound at any moment, so the Blues will still have to take the reigning Stanley Cup champs seriously.