St. Louis Blues Ready to Finish Four-Game Homestand Strong Against Pittsburgh Penguins
The St. Louis Blues will shoot for their second straight win against an Eastern Conference team on Monday evening.
The St. Louis Blues welcome the Pittsburgh Penguins to Scottrade Center on Monday, wrapping up a four-game homestand that’s been solely comprised of Eastern Conference opponents. Despite the team’s struggles against opponents from the East this year, they’ve been better against the conference during this homestand, beating the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday and the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday, though they suffered a disappointing loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday.
The Blues, who now sit third in the Central Division and rank fourth in the Western Conference in points, face a Penguins team that has had a rough go of it this season, keeping their heads above water in the weak Metropolitan Division, but ranking ninth among 16 teams in points in the Eastern Conference.
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For what it’s worth, the Penguins did come away with a momentum-building 5-0 victory over the Hurricanes on Sunday, a day after they shook things up by trading former Blue David Perron and Adam Clendering to the Anaheim Ducks for forward Carl Hagelin. It’ll be interesting to see what type of effort they can put together as they come into St. Louis on Monday.
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The Blues will have a significantly greater selection of healthy players on Monday than they’ve had in recent games. Jay Bouwmeester will return to the lineup after missing the past four games with a concussion. That will send Chris Butler back to the press box, though newly-recalled defenseman Andre Benoit will enter the lineup due to a lower-body injury to Robert Bortuzzo that could keep the big blueliner out for a while.
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As was surprisingly the case on Saturday, the Blues will also have an extra forward at their disposal now that Paul Stastny and Alexander Steen are both recovered from facial injuries. Dmitrij Jaskin could get back into the lineup on the fourth line after sitting out against the Canadiens, but it’s also possible that Scottie Upshall could remain active, sending Jaskin to the press box for the second straight game.
For the first time this season, the Blues will use a tandem of two lefthanded-shooting defensemen, as Benoit and Edmundson will be paired together. With a double-righthanded duo of Colton Parayko and Kevin Shattenkirk as the second group, the Blues will be departing significantly from the usual philosophy of playing lefthanded shooters on the left side and righties on the right.
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Here’s how the lineup is expected to look on Monday:
Robby Fabbri–Jori Lehtera–Vladimir Tarasenko
Alexander Steen-Paul Stastny-Troy Brouwer
Patrik Berglund–David Backes–Ty Rattie
Dmitrij Jaskin–Kyle Brodziak–Ryan Reaves
Jay Bouwmeester–Alex Pietrangelo
Colton Parayko-Kevin Shattenkirk
Joel Edmundson-Andre Benoit