St. Louis Blues Game Preview: Team Looks to Hold onto First Place Against Calgary Flames

The St. Louis Blues face the Calgary Flames on Tuesday evening, looking to hold onto first place in the Central Division as the Nashville Predators, who are currently tied for the lead, face the Minnesota Wild. The Blues will have to put up a good fight against Calgary, which is a greatly improved team currently in position to make the playoffs for the first time since the 2008-09 season.
The Blues will aim to extend their record on their current four-game road trip to 2-0, having defeated the Dallas Stars 3-0 on Sunday. They’ll hope to start a new winning streak after Saturday’s game against the Wild ended in a disappointing 3-1 loss.

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Against the Flames, and probably going forward as the team avoids the traditional off-day practice and gameday morning skate to stay fresh for the home stretch, it will be difficult to project the Blues’ lineup. For Sunday’s game against Dallas, coach Ken Hitchcock swapped out three skaters—

,

, and

—for three new ones (

,

, and

).

Hitchcock indicated last week that he was hoping to make the 36-year-old Jokinen a regular member of the lineup going forward, but the status of the other players remains a question mark. Ott has been a stable presence on the team’s fourth line all season, and it would be odd to see him suddenly made a reserve so late in the year. Then again, Porter has had a noticeable impact whenever he’s been in the lineup, leading the team in hits for the last game in which he dressed.

Neither Bortuzzo or Lindbohm has done much, either positively or negatively, to really separate themselves from each other. Lindbohm, who has provided a disciplined, aggressive presence on the blueline whenever he’s been cast into action, was part of the lineup for the team’s win in Dallas on Sunday, so Hitchcock may simply elect to continue with what worked and keep him in for Tuesday’s game.

We do know that

will be in goal against Calgary. Prior to

’s Sunday shutout of the Dallas Stars, Elliott had started the Blues’ past five games, and he’ll probably get the large bulk of the starts over the team’s final 13 regular season contests.

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