St. Louis Blues Game Preview: Team Aims to Reverse Fortunes Against Winnipeg Jets
The St. Louis Blues will once again attempt to recover from what has probably been their second-worst slump of the season, facing off against the Winnipeg Jets in Manitoba on Thursday to begin a five-game road trip.
The Blues lost three of four games during their recent homestand, giving up the first goal in all four games and suffering two of their most embarrassing losses of the season: a 4-1 loss to the Dallas Stars last Tuesday and a 5-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens in the homestand’s finale two nights ago. The most concerning thing about the recent string of play is that the Blues seem to have gotten away from the style that has brought them success for such a large chunk of 2014-15, and as the St. Louis Post-Dispatch‘s Jeremy Rutherford shared on Tuesday night, head coach Ken Hitchcock seems to be running out of ideas on how to fix the issues:
Hitch: "We're not interested in playing the way that's been successful here. We want to play a different way...and it's really hurting us."
— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) February 25, 2015
Tonight was 2nd time on this homestand Hitch was asked why the team has veered from its style and responded "ask that question in the room."
— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) February 25, 2015
The Blues haven’t struggled as severely as they did in late December and early January, when they lost six of seven games in the absence of key players like Jaden Schwartz, Carl Gunnarsson, and Brian Elliott. With everyone except defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk now healthy, though, it’s more concerning to see the Blues struggling, especially with the playoffs on the horizon in a little bit more than a month.
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Winnipeg, who is currently in position to be a playoff team in the Western Conference, will be no easy opponent for the Blues. They were able to come away with the win against the Jets in the teams’ only meeting so far this season on November 23 by a score of 4-2, but Winnipeg made things tough, establishing a 2-1 lead before the Blues ultimately pulled away in the third period.
The Jets have risen to prominence in the Western Conference by adopting a similar model to the one that has allowed the Los Angeles Kings to be perennial Stanley Cup contenders in recent years, employing a multitude of big bodies to play a physical style and make things rough on the opponent. The Jets have 17 skaters who are 6-foot-2 or taller, with all but two of those players being listed at at least 200 pounds. (Blake Wheeler and Ben Chiarot, two members of that group, are currently on injured reserve.) Winnipeg recently added their most imposing physical presence yet, adding 6-foot-8, 219-pound defenseman Tyler Myers in a trade with the Buffalo Sabres. The Jets will be a hassle for the Blues down the stretch, as the teams meet four times from now until the end of the regular season.
It’s unknown whether the Blues will make any lineup adjustments on Thursday night. Brian Elliott figures to get back in net after Jake Allen took his first loss of 2015 in his start against Montreal on Tuesday. No one is safe following Tuesday’s lackadaisical effort, and it’s possible that any of the usual three healthy scratches–Joakim Lindstrom, Chris Porter, and Chris Butler–could be inserted into the lineup in order to try to create some energy among the group.
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