St. Louis Blues vs. Boston Bruins: Game Preview
The St. Louis Blues will look to bounce back from one of their worst games of the 2014-15 season, a 4-1 Tuesday loss to the Dallas Stars at Scottrade Center, on Friday night when they continue their homestand while hosting the Boston Bruins. The Blues gave up three goals within the first nine minutes of Tuesday’s game, and they’ll need to be more defensively responsible on Friday if they want to have a chance against Boston.
It’s been a disappointing season for the usually successful Bruins, who sit in fourth place in the Atlantic Division with just 65 points (28-20-9). They haven’t gotten a whole lot of consistent point production from anyone; Patrice Bergeron leads the team with 38 points and has just five other 30-point players behind him. In comparison, the Blues have nine players with over 30 points, while five have over 40, including Vladimir Tarasenko, who has a team-leading 55. Boston has struggled with injuries during 2014-15 and has had to utilize 28 different skaters to this point in the season.
It is very possible that the Bruins could start rookie goaltender Malcolm Subban (younger brother of Canadiens defenseman P.K.), allowing him to make his NHL debut. Subban would relieve Tuukka Rask, who has played in 48 of the Bruins’ 57 games thus far.
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It’s largely a mystery as to how the Blues’ lineup will be composed on Friday evening. Coach Ken Hitchcock recently stated that forward Chris Porter would join the lineup for one of the two games this weekend, either on Friday night or on Saturday against the Pittsburgh Penguins. If he gets in, however, it’s anyone’s guess as to who gets taken out. With the Blues’ top nine forwards performing well, it would almost have to be someone among the fourth line of Steve Ott, Marcel Goc, or Ryan Reaves. None of those players have done anything to deserve even a temporary benching, so it will be interesting to see if one of them gets the hook on Friday.
It’s very likely that either Ian Cole or Chris Butler will come out of the lineup on Friday in favor of rookie Petteri Lindbohm, who was recalled on Wednesday from AHL Chicago. While it’s arguable that Alex Pietrangelo and Jay Bouwmeester have struggled more significantly in recent games, it’s easier to make a scapegoat out of Cole or Butler, who are usually limited in their ice time.
Lindbohm hasn’t played in an NHL game since December 27, but on Wednesday Hitchcock stated a desire to increase the competition among the defensive corps. The 21-year-old Lindbohm, who is playing his first season in America this year, has been in the lineup whenever he’s been with the team during his previous stints.
It’s also unknown who the Blues will start in goal on Friday. Brian Elliott was pulled from Tuesday’s game after giving up three goals on six shots, and then Jake Allen relieved him and gave up one goal on 16 shots. With a back-to-back this weekend, the Blues may aim to use Allen, their less experienced goaltender, against Boston, while allowing Elliott to start against the more imposing Penguins squad. With that said, Allen has been the more consistent of the two as of late, having picked up the win in every one of his five starts during 2015 while giving up no more than two goals in any of them.