St. Louis Blues Seek Back-to-Back Wins…Again…Against Nashville Predators

The St. Louis Blues haven’t won a set of back-to-back games since they snapped a three-game streak 37 days ago. Will Thursday be the day that things finally change?

The St. Louis Blues face their division rivals, the Nashville Predators, for the second time this season and the first time at Scottrade Center on Thursday evening. First and foremost, the game will be notable because longtime Blues defenseman Barret Jackman, who is ranked second all-time in franchise history in games played, will be making his first visit to Scottrade as a visitor with the Predators. Through 30 games this season, Jackman has one goal, one assist, a plus-3 rating, and a team-leading 48 penalty minutes.

Thursday will be an intriguing divisional matchup, as the Blues have bounced back a bit as of late and are currently in second place with 40 points, while Nashville has struggled recently and is in fifth place with 36 points. The Predators have lost two straight and five of their past seven, so they’ll certainly be looking to get back on the right track against the Blues. While the Blues haven’t been the crispest efforts as of late, either, the rivalry’s current state is at a sharp contrast to where it was a year ago. The Preds stayed in first place for most of the 2014-15 season, with the Blues only passing them up near the end of the schedule to earn first place in the final standings.

In the teams’ only meeting this season, which came on November 7, the Blues won 4-0, despite Nashville outshooting the Blues 45-28. It was perhaps Jake Allen‘s best effort to date, as he prevented the Predators from scoring despite the high shot count.

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Considering that the Blues have used the same group of skaters for a season-high five straight games, got a win on Tuesday, and didn’t have a practice on Wednesday to institute any changes, it seems like a pretty good bet that the lineup will stay the same against Nashville. We saw the Blues’ power-play offense become more electric on Tuesday with goals from Alexander Steen and Vladimir Tarasenko, so we’ll see if the Blues’ top lines can take the next step and create more offensive pressure from even strength against the Predators on Thursday.

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Here’s what the lineup is expected to look like:

Magnus Paajarvi–Paul Stastny–Vladimir Tarasenko

Alexander Steen–David Backes–Troy Brouwer

Dmitrij Jaskin–Jori Lehtera–Robby Fabbri

Scottie Upshall–Kyle Brodziak–Ryan Reaves

Jay Bouwmeester–Alex Pietrangelo

Petteri Lindbohm–Kevin Shattenkirk

Carl Gunnarsson–Colton Parayko

Jake Allen