St. Louis Blues vs. Los Angeles Kings: Game Preview
On Tuesday, the St. Louis Blues face the Los Angeles Kings for the first time in exactly two months, hosting them at Scottrade Center for the first time this year. The two teams have met just once this year, when the Kings defeated the Blues 1-0 in a shootout in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, the Blues will once again be without Brian Elliott, who was in net for 65 minutes of shutout hockey in that game, as he’s still rebounding from a knee injury.
The Blues, who have a home-and-home series with the Kings this week, following up Tuesday’s matchup with a game in Los Angeles on Thursday, will be looking to continue a four-game winning streak. Despite another wave of untimely injuries, the team has prevailed and continued to put together plenty of offense, and now with defenseman Carl Gunnarsson the only injured skater, they’ll certainly be ready to battle Los Angeles, a major postseason rival in recent years.
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As of Monday, Blues coach Ken Hitchcock had not decided whether to play rookie goaltender Jake Allen, who has been in net for the Blues’ last two wins, or Martin Brodeur, who was responsible for the two wins prior to that. The forward corps also figure to see an adjustment on Tuesday, as Chris Porter will get back into the lineup in place of Joakim Lindstrom. While Lindstrom has been solid over the past three games, he hasn’t put up any points. Porter, who has been a healthy scratch in the past two games, scored the game-winning goal last Tuesday and is about due for some work.
The Blues have recently been employing a three-man defensive rotation between Chris Butler, Ian Cole, and Petteri Lindbohm. If things stay according to plan, Lindbohm will sit on Tuesday night, as Cole and Butler have both taken turns as the healthy scratch over the past two games.