St. Louis Blues vs. Florida Panthers: Game Preview
The St. Louis Blues come off their first two-day break since they returned from the All-Star break, facing off against the Florida Panthers on Sunday afternoon. The Blues, who sit six points behind the Nashville Predators in the race for first place in the Central Division, will be looking to replicate the success they had earlier this year against the Panthers on December 8 at Scottrade Center.
In an interesting twist of events, none of the three Blues who were the three stars of that game are currently on the active roster. Martin Brodeur, who starred while allowing two goals on 34 shots in one of his best efforts with the Blues, has since retired and transitioned to a front office role. Chris Porter, who scored the game-winning goal and added an assist, has been on IR since late December after suffering a broken ankle and still has yet to return. And Maxim Lapierre, who scored the game’s first goal and was the third star, was traded for Marcel Goc shortly after the All-Star break.
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The Panthers are by no means spectacular, but after being the NHL’s second-worst team last season, they’ve made big improvements during 2014-15. At 24-19-11, they’re in fifth place in the Atlantic Division and are still in contention for a playoff spot. Though Florida is lacking in offensive production–Nick Bjugstad leads the team with just 34 points–they’ve found a way to ascend with the development of recent first-rounders like Bjugstad and 2014 first-rounder Aaron Ekblad into steady contributors.
The Blues will get to face former teammate Brad Boyes on Sunday. Boyes, who had as many as 43 goals in a season for the Blues and had two 30-plus-goal seasons, has leveled off in recent years and has 10 goals and 16 assists over 52 games.
With forward Joakim Lindstrom currently being the Blues’ only extra skater, the team’s lineup figures to stay the same on Sunday. Brian Elliott, who allowed three goals on 29 shots against Tampa Bay on Thursday, will be in net again for the Blues.