St. Louis Blues Welcome Arizona Coyotes for 2015-16’s Penultimate Home Contest
Can the St. Louis Blues pick up back-to-back wins and complete a season sweep of the Arizona Coyotes?
The St. Louis Blues wrap up a stretch of three games in four days and play their final set of back-to-back games this season on Monday evening, as they’ll welcome the Arizona Coyotes to Scottrade Center for the second-to-last home game of the 2015-16 regular season.
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After picking up an impressive 5-1 win on Sunday evening against the Colorado Avalanche, the Blues will look to make it two in a row against the flailing Coyotes, who have fallen apart over the past month-and-a-half.
Though the Coyotes are still in fourth place in the Pacific Division, they’ve been in a tremendous rut since their 6-4 loss to the Blues on Februrary 20. Since then, the Coyotes are 8-12-1 and went through a stretch where they dropped 9 of 10. The last time they visited the Blues on December 8, they lost 4-1, so it’s safe to say that they’ll be seeking to change their luck against the Note on Monday.
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The Blues could get as many as three injured players back for Monday’s game, as forwards Robby Fabbri and Steve Ott and defenseman Jay Bouwmeester have been skating and trying to get back up to speed. Ken Hitchcock could elect to insert any of them against Arizona, though he has plenty of room to be cautious with them as he tries to get guys like Magnus Paajarvi, Dmitrij Jaskin, Ryan Reaves, and Robert Bortuzzo some quality playing time over the remainder of the regular season.
Brian Elliott will get back between the pipes on Monday, which had already been determined prior to Sunday night’s game, but was solidified by the fact that Jake Allen exited the game against Colorado after one period with a lower-body injury, giving way to Anders Nilsson, who was serving as the backup as Elliott stayed in St. Louis to prepare for his start Monday. As a result, Nilsson will likely dress for his first set of consecutive games since March 14 and 16 and back up Elliott against Arizona.
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Here’s how Monday’s lineup might look, though with as many as 23 skaters available and Hitchcock attempting to get everyone some work in advance of the postseason, there’s lots of room for change:
Alexander Steen–Jori Lehtera–Vladimir Tarasenko
Jaden Schwartz–Patrik Berglund–David Backes
Magnus Paajarvi–Paul Stastny–Troy Brouwer
Scottie Upshall–Kyle Brodziak–Ryan Reaves
Joel Edmundson–Alex Pietrangelo
Jay Bouwmeester–Kevin Shattenkirk