St. Louis Blues vs. Toronto Maple Leafs: Game Preview
The St. Louis Blues take on the Toronto Maple Leafs for the first time during the 2014-15 season on Saturday night, welcoming the Original Six franchise to Scottrade Center. The Blues, who are currently tied for second in the NHL Central Division with the Chicago Blackhawks at 58 points, will be attempting to start a new winning streak on Saturday after dropping Thursday’s game 3-2 to the Detroit Red Wings in overtime. That loss snapped a five-game winning streak.
Toronto currently sits in sixth place in the Atlantic Division at 22-20-3. The Leafs dropped both of their games against the Blues last season, losing 6-3 on December 12 in St. Louis and falling 5-3 on March 25 in Toronto.
It will be the first opportunity for two defensemen who traded places during the offseason, Carl Gunnarsson and Roman Polak, to face their respective former teams. Gunnarsson, who has played in 27 games for the Blues this season, played for Toronto from 2009 to 2014, while Polak, who has played in 35 games for Toronto, played in St. Louis all the way from 2006 to 2014. Gunnarsson was traded along with a fourth-round pick for Polak on Day 2 of the NHL Draft in June.
The Blues’ lineup is expected to be changed for the second straight game after remaining relatively static during the aforementioned snapped winning streak. Forward Joakim Lindstrom, who dressed on Thursday after being scratched for six straight games, will remain in the lineup on Saturday. However, coach Ken Hitchcock also said on Friday that chances were high for rookie forward Dmitrij Jaskin to get back in the lineup against Toronto after sitting against Detroit.
More from St. Louis Blues
- An early projection of the St. Louis Blues’ opening-night roster
- St. Louis Blues sign Klim Kostin to three-year, entry-level contract
- St. Louis Blues: Nail Yakupov signs with Colorado Avalanche
- St. Louis Blues: An homage to Chris Butler
- St. Louis Blues agree to one-year contract with Oskar Sundqvist
With both Jaskin and Lindstrom in the lineup, that means that a forward who is not accustomed to being scratched will have to come out of the lineup. The most likely candidate is probably fourth line center Maxim Lapierre, who has not registered a point in 10 games and was a healthy scratch on January 3, when the Blues defeated the Sharks in San Jose. Other possibilities could include Steve Ott and Ryan Reaves, who have been absent from the scoresheet for an extended period of time, though both players play more significant checking roles than Lapierre, and neither has been a healthy scratch through 44 games this year.
The Blues’ sixth defenseman spot seems to be up for re-evaluation on a game-by-game basis as of recent. Hitchcock has said that he wants either Ian Cole or Chris Butler to take the spot and run with it, and after an inconsistent effort in Tuesday’s game against Edmonton, Cole did nothing to deserve losing the spot against Detroit. With that said, the Blues may want to get Butler a turn in the lineup after sitting for two straight games.
Brian Elliott was pulled in the first period of last Saturday’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes and took the loss on Thursday against Detroit, but the Blues will stick with their plan to keep him in net for Saturday’s game. Though he has slumped a bit over the past week, Elliott is still tied for second in the NHL in goals-against average with a 2.00 average.