St. Louis Blues vs. Nashville Predators: Game Preview
The St. Louis Blues return from a nine-day All-Star break layoff on Thursday night, facing the Nashville Predators, who currently sit ahead of the Blues in the Central Division but have struggled a bit since losing goalie Pekka Rinne to a sprained knee earlier this month. Nashville returned from the break on Tuesday night and beat the Colorado Avalanche in a 4-3 overtime victory, but they’re now just five points ahead of both the Blues and the Chicago Blackhawks in the division. A Blues win on Thursday could do wonders in their attempt to shake up the standings.
It will be important for the Blues to try to get to goalie Carter Hutton, who is expected to get the start for Nashville on Thursday. Over 10 games this year, he has a 2.87 goals-against average and an .895 save percentage. The Blues have scored at least three goals in eight of their nine games since the New Year, and if they can harass Hutton, it should be a quality opportunity to get a victory against their divisional rivals.
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Thursday will be a passing of the torch of sorts for goaltender Martin Brodeur, as he’ll officially announce his retirement in a morning press conference and then drop the ceremonial first puck before the game. Despite playing just seven of his 1,266 career NHL games with the Blues, Brodeur will stick in the organization at least through the end of the season in a front office role, the specifics of which are expected to be announced in Thursday’s press conference.
Thursday night could be the Blues debut of center Marcel Goc, who was acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for Maxim Lapierre on Tuesday. The 31-year-old has not practiced yet with the Blues but is expected to join the team on Thursday morning and could be centering the fourth line by Thursday night as long as everything checks out during the morning skate.
If he does end up getting into the lineup, Goc will get to play against his former team, as he was with Nashville from 2009 to 2011 and had the best season of his career with them in 2009-10, when he notched 12 goals and 18 assists over 73 games.
If for some reason Goc isn’t ready to join the lineup on Thursday, the Blues could rotate centers on the fourth line and go with seven defensemen, as they did earlier this month in a victory over the San Jose Sharks, or they could utilize Joakim Lindstrom on the fourth line, which may not be the wisest move considering his lack of size and aggressiveness. The Blues will also have an open roster spot with Brodeur’s retirement becoming official on Thursday, so it should be interesting to see if they fill it right away or leave it open for a while in an attempt to take it easy with the salary cap.
Other than the uncertainty of Goc’s place in Thursday’s lineup, things are expected to remain the same personnel-wise, as Brian Elliott will be in goal and the rest of the regular lineup will stay in place. Unless Goc can’t go against Nashville, that means that Butler and Lindstrom will be the healthy scratches for Thursday’s game.