St. Louis Blues vs. San Jose Sharks: Game Preview
The St. Louis Blues will be looking to increase their winning streak to three games on Thursday night as they return to Scottrade Center after a four-game road trip to face the San Jose Sharks. The Blues, who lost six of seven games while forward Jaden Schwartz was out of the lineup with a broken foot, have won two straight games and outscored their opponents 13-2 since his return.
The first of those opponents was San Jose, who the Blues have fared well against in two road contests this year. Though San Jose ultimately ended up winning in the teams’ first meeting of the year on December 20, the Blues had a 2-1 lead until Marc-Edouard Vlasic scored the tying goal with 41 seconds left in the third period to send it to overtime, where Brent Burns scored the game-winner.
The Blues dominated the second matchup, winning 7-2 while T.J. Oshie recorded his second career hat trick. Alexander Steen, Kevin Shattenkirk, Jaden Schwartz, and Dmitrij Jaskin also contributed goals, which caused San Jose to pull goalie Antti Niemi in the early third period.
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With the Blues operating shorthanded with 20 skaters on the roster and now back into a winning groove, they’ll probably stick with the same lineup they used on Tuesday against Arizona. It is possible, however, that the Blues could elect to go back to the 11-forward, seven-defenseman lineup that led them to victory in San Jose on Saturday. If that were the case, Ian Cole would return to the lineup, while fourth line center Maxim Lapierre, who was a non-factor in Tuesday’s victory, registering no points, shots, or hits in 11:06 of ice time, would be the likely player to come out.
With coach Ken Hitchcock’s remarks earlier this week about needing to get goaltender Brian Elliott back into a groove following his return from a five-week injury layoff, Elliott will presumably be in net for the fourth time in five games on Thursday. Elliott has an impressive .944 save percentage in the three games since he’s been back. Martin Brodeur has been a healthy scratch for every game that Elliott has started, so he figures to be one again if Elliott indeed gets the call on Thursday.
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