St. Louis Blues Seek Revenge in “Wednesday Night Rivalry” Meeting with Detroit Red Wings
The St. Louis Blues will seek revenge against the Detroit Red Wings, who beat them in overtime earlier this season.
As the St. Louis Blues begin a stretch of four straight road games–one that will be broken up by next week’s All-Star break–they’ll head into Detroit Wednesday to face the Red Wings. In an appearance on NBCSN’s “Wednesday Night Rivalry”–a rivalry that isn’t really too much of a rivalry anymore because of the Red Wings’ move to the Eastern Conference–the Blues will seek revenge against a Wings team that defeated them 4-3 in overtime at Scottrade Center on November 21.
While they haven’t been as successful as the Blues (who now have 61 points and are tied for fourth-most in the NHL) the Red Wings have had a bounce-back season thanks to the emergence of rookie forward Dylan Larkin, who has 30 points in 44 games and will participate in the NHL All-Star Game. They’re in second place in the Atlantic Division with 54 points, and they’re 5-1-1 since the start of the new year.
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The Wings may be slipping a bit, though. They’ve lost two of their past three, and they’ll now be without their most offensively productive defenseman, Niklas Kronwall, for about a month after he went arthroscopic knee surgery on Tuesday. It’s an ideal time for the Blues to face them and try to extend their two-game winning streak, so Wednesday night should be a very good indication of exactly how much momentum this Blues team has at the moment.
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It’s possible that the Blues could move one small step closer to having their full healthy lineup restored on Wednesday, as Carl Gunnarsson could return after missing the past four games with an upper-body injury. If the Swede does indeed return, it’d likely knock Andre Benoit, who played his first game in a Blues uniform on Monday, from the lineup.
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It will also be interesting to see if Dmitrij Jaskin becomes a healthy scratch for the third straight game. The 22-year-old Jaskin, who’s had an up-and-down season after scoring 13 goals in 54 games during 2014-15, has been the odd man out lately. Meanwhile, Scottie Upshall has played in five straight after a stint as a healthy scratch. We’ll see if the rookie slips further into the doghouse against the Red Wings as Upshall, who made the team on a professional tryout deal during training camp, continues to assert himself as part of the lineup.
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Here’s how the Blues’ lineup could look against Detroit:
Robby Fabbri–Jori Lehtera–Vladimir Tarasenko
Alexander Steen–Paul Stastny–Troy Brouwer
Patrik Berglund–David Backes–Ty Rattie
Scottie Upshall–Kyle Brodziak–Ryan Reaves
Jay Bouwmeester–Alex Pietrangelo
Joel Edmundson–Kevin Shattenkirk
Carl Gunnarsson-Colton Parayko