St. Louis Blues vs. Winnipeg Jets: Game Preview

After finally getting a win in the third game of a four-game road trip on Saturday against the Ottawa Senators, the St. Louis Blues will attempt to go .500 on the trip when they face the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday in yet another afternoon matchup.

The Jets, who feature an exceptionally large group of players, with 10 skaters at at least 6-foot-3 or taller, will attempt to wear the Blues out physically, which may be an easier task considering that the Blues will have played three games in the last four days and four in the last six. Winnipeg, a team which is actually put together rather similarly to the Blues in that they have a young but experienced core and generally emphasize grittiness as much as or more than a finesse offensive game, has experienced a decent amount of success thus far in 2014-15. They currently sit in fourth place in the Central Division with a 10-8-3 record.

More from St. Louis Blues

• An early projection of the St. Louis Blues’ opening-night roster
• St. Louis Blues sign Klim Kostin to three-year, entry-level contract
• St. Louis Blues: Nail Yakupov signs with Colorado Avalanche
• St. Louis Blues: An homage to Chris Butler
• St. Louis Blues agree to one-year contract with Oskar Sundqvist

After Brian Elliott started in goal on Saturday, Jake Allen is expected to get the other end of the back-to-back and start in net on Sunday. As the Blues attempt to keep everybody fresh, it wouldn’t be shocking to see the team’s reserve forwards over the past two games, Joakim Lindstrom and Chris Porter, be inserted into the lineup against the Jets. Magnus Paajarvi would seem to be a candidate to be rotated out as the Blues give those guys some work, but there’s not anyone else who has particularly stood out as deserving of being removed from the lineup, particularly after Maxim Lapierre scored his first goal of the season in Saturday’s game.

Defenseman Jay Bouwmeester left Saturday’s game in the third period with what coach Ken Hitchock described as a “lower-body ailment.” Bouwmeester has played in 737 consecutive games, the longest active streak in the NHL, so it would be a shock if he let the injury keep him from playing in Sunday’s game. With that said, the Blues do have extra defenseman Chris Butler at their disposal if it is decided that Bouwmeester is unfit to play in Winnipeg.