St. Louis Blues vs. Ottawa Senators: Game Preview
After defeating the Ottawa Senators 3-2 on Saturday afternoon in Ottawa, the St. Louis Blues will return to St. Louis and begin a two-game homestand on Tuesday night against that same Senators team, quickly completing their yearly home-and-home series.
The Blues got goals from Maxim Lapierre, Vladimir Tarasenko, and Alexander Steen on Saturday in what began a nice two-game stretch of offensive contributions from all four forward lines. While the Blues had relied much too heavily on the line of Tarasenko, Jaden Schwartz, and Jori Lehtera for scoring in recent games, they got the goals from Lapierre and Steen on Saturday and then goals from David Backes, Ryan Reaves, and Paul Stastny on Sunday, in addition to one from Schwartz. The team-wide contributions will be crucial to the Blues’ continued success, and if they can get at least decent production out of their other three lines plus the spectacular production they’ve gotten out of the “STL” line, they could be one of the most formidable offensive teams in the NHL come playoff time.
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It’s expected that Brian Elliott, who got the win in net against Ottawa on Saturday, will start again versus the Senators on Tuesday. Defenseman Jay Bouwmeester is questionable after missing Sunday’s game with a lower-body injury. If he is unable to play, he’ll once again be replaced by Chris Butler, who made his debut for his hometown team on Sunday. It would seem logical for the Blues to keep the same lineup in place that helped score four goals against Winnipeg on Sunday. The Blues have recently employed a rotation of forwards Joakim Lindstrom, Magnus Paajarvi, and Chris Porter, though, so it’s possible that there will be a change in the forward corps on Tuesday.