St. Louis Blues Look for Fourth Straight Win in Friday Night Trip to Denver
The St. Louis Blues will attempt to win one for the city and defeat Stan Kroenke’s NHL team, which has performed better of late.
The St. Louis Blues will take on the Colorado Avalanche for the third time this season on Friday evening, playing the Avs in their second-to-last game before the week-long All-Star break. It’s about time that the Blues did something against the Avalanche, seeing as they’ve lost both games thus far to their division rivals. Despite the fact that the Avs have improved in recent weeks and now sit in fifth place in the Central Division, they’re still 12 points behind the third-place Blues, and both games that the Blues have lost thus far have been some of their poorest efforts during 2015-16.
While the Blues are on a three-game streak and have won five of their past six, the Avs are on a little bit of a roll themselves. They’ve now won two straight, and they’re now 6-4 in January, a performance that has lifted them substantially higher above .500 than they were entering the New Year.
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One would have to hope that the Blues’ defensive situation is more settled on Friday than it was against Detroit. Thanks to a pregame paperwork oversight, Carl Gunnarsson was not activated from injured reserve in time for the game and was forced to sit even though he was fully healthy. With Colton Parayko sick and Chris Butler having been demoted back to AHL Chicago the day before, the Blues were forced to play with just five defensemen, leading guys like Kevin Shattenkirk and Joel Edmundson to have to play far more minutes than usual. With both Gunnarsson and Parayko expected back on Friday, things should be back to normal, and Andre Benoit will likely become a healthy scratch after playing in the past two games.
Dmitrij Jaskin took advantage of an opportunity on Wednesday in Detroit, scoring his third goal of the season in his first game back up after sitting for two straight. The positive impression that he made will likely keep him in the lineup on Friday in Colorado. Since agitator Cody McLeod provides a solid matchup for Blues aggressor Ryan Reaves, it’s likely that Scottie Upshall will be the healthy forward scratch on Friday night.
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Here’s what the Blues’ lineup could look like in Colorado if everything properly falls into place this time:
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
Joel Edmundson–Kevin Shattenkirk
Carl Gunnarsson-Colton Parayko