The St. Louis Blues and Calgary Flames are set to do battle tonight at the Enterprise Center. In what has been a bad year for both teams, the script has been much different than it was last season, when both teams were battling each other for a playoff spot.
Let's go over the three players to watch for in this one.
Jordan Kyrou
Jordan Kyrou responded very well to his benching with the would-have-been game-winning goal against Seattle. Of course, the Kraken had other plans, and the Blues lost in overtime. But there is no denying that Kyrou was one of the best players out there that night.
Against Calgary, he is going to have to be that player again. The leading goal scorer from the last couple of seasons has to get himself onto a goal streak to help this Blues team.
Jordan Binnington
Going into this season, there was never a thought that the Blues would be going through a goaltending crisis. Especially after how well both Jordan Binnington and Joel Hofer were last season. There is a bit of an uncomfortable conversation to be had about the split between the starter and backup, as the backup is playing. a good bit better than the starter.
Can Binnington use that as fire and get himself back on track? Calgary has faced its own problems this season with goal scoring, making this a perfect opportunity to bounce back.
Matthew Kessel
Hunter Skinner was called up just a few days ago, which caused Logan Mailloux to be sent back down to Springfield to get some more reps in against opponents that were not NHLers. Matthew Kessel now has a big responsibility on the third line with Tyler Tucker, having essentially beaten out Mailloux for the advantage of becoming a full-timer.
As of late, the defense has looked a good bit better, but not perfect. Can Kessel really button things up and help out Binnington?