St. Louis Blues Look to Finish Road Trip on High Note vs. San Jose Sharks
After an impressive shutout victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday, the St. Louis Blues will attempt to defeat the San Jose Sharks for the first time this season on Tuesday.
The St. Louis Blues finally got off the schneid on Saturday night in Vancouver, as goalie Brian Elliott returned from a 10-game absence and resumed right where he left off, shutting out the Canucks for his sixth straight victory.
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Elliott’s impressive return helped the Blues snap a frustrating two-game losing streak that featured losses to two Western Conference bottom-dwellers, the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers.
The Blues will get back on the ice Tuesday night, visiting the San Jose Sharks for the first and only time in 2015-16 and starting at 9:30 PM CT for the only time this season. The Blues are still looking for their first win of the season against San Jose, who they’ve lost to twice on their home ice by a combined score of 9-4.
San Jose is a good, competitive team that is virtually assured of a playoff berth, currently 19 points ahead of the fourth-place Arizona Coyotes in the Pacific Division. With that said, it’s not immediately clear as to why they’ve had the Blues’ number to such a great extent this season. They’re the third-highest scoring team in the NHL, with 2.93 goals per game, but then again, the Blues are 4-1 against the league’s highest scoring team, the Dallas Stars, this season.
The teams’ most recent meeting was complicated by both the ejection of Blues winger Ryan Reaves–which resulted in a five-minute major for boarding–and an injury that knocked Elliott out of the game within the contest’s first 13 minutes.
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The Blues seemed to get rattled, and they ended up allowing six goals (tied for the second-most they’ve allowed in a single game this season).
The Blues can regain a share of first place in the Central Division on Tuesday if two factors go in their favor: a win over the Sharks, and a regulation loss by the first-place Stars. With that said, Tuesday is a bit of a lose-lose situation, as a Stars loss would mean that their opponent, the third-place Chicago Blackhawks, would inch closer to the Blues and Stars in the standings.
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The Blues’ lineup is expected to remain exactly the same as it was on Saturday in Vancouver. If that plan sticks, the Blues’ three healthy scratches will be forward Magnus Paajarvi, defenseman Robert Bortuzzo, and goalie Anders Nilsson.
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Here’s what the Blues’ lineup should look like in San Jose:
Jaden Schwartz–Jori Lehtera–Vladimir Tarasenko
Robby Fabbri–Paul Stastny–Troy Brouwer
Dmitrij Jaskin–Patrik Berglund–David Backes
Scottie Upshall–Kyle Brodziak–Ryan Reaves
Joel Edmundson–Alex Pietrangelo
Jay Bouwmeester–Kevin Shattenkirk
Carl Gunnarsson–Colton Parayko
Brian Elliott