St. Louis Blues Hope Lineup Adjustments Will Provide Spark in Game 3 vs. San Jose Sharks
Blues Lineup
It would be a surprise if the Blues didn’t replace winger Steve Ott on Thursday, as the agitator has already taken two unnecessary penalties during the first two games of the Sharks series. Ryan Reaves doesn’t match up very well skill-wise with the Sharks (and has already hurt the Blues in the penalty department against them this season, checking defenseman Matt Tennyson into the boards on February 22 and taking a game misconduct.) Thus, Hitchcock’s realistic options to replace Ott for Game 3 probably include Dmitrij Jaskin, Magnus Paajarvi, and Ty Rattie.
Jaskin has already scored a goal during these playoffs, so he’d be a logical candidate to get back into the lineup. With that said, Hitchcock has repeatedly taken cues from one of his respected peers in coaching, Dallas coach Lindy Ruff, during these playoffs. Though he and the Blues have now eliminated Ruff’s Stars, it feels like Hitchcock might have one more of Ruff’s patented tricks up his sleeve. Ruff utilized two forwards during his series against the Blues, Curtis McKenzie and Brett Ritchie, who had been freshly recalled from the AHL and had played a combined 11 NHL games for Dallas this season. If Hitchcock wants to throw a surprise at the Stars, he could decide to use Rattie, a player who just recently began participating in practices with the main group and who played in just 13 NHL games this year, the most recent of which came on February 28. Rattie, a slight but aggressive scorer, may actually match up better against San Jose’s lineup than anyone else that Hitchcock could throw their way.
It would be tempting for Hitchcock to pull rookie defenseman Joel Edmundson, as he’s done several times this postseason, and insert Robert Bortuzzo. While Bortuzzo has been alright when called upon, his insertion has repeatedly had consequences for the Blues, as the presence of the righthanded-shooting Bortuzzo rather than the lefty-shooting Edmundson has required the Blues to use a double-righthanded pairing and to play Kevin Shattenkirk on the left side. In games where he’s been paired with either Bortuzzo or Colton Parayko rather than Edmundson, his usual partner, Shattenkirk has a collective minus-4 rating.
Perhaps Hitchcock could elect to insert veteran Chris Butler, who hasn’t played in an NHL game since January 16 but has participated in pregame warmups at times this postseason. That would give the Blues an even balance of lefthanded and righthanded-shooting defensemen while still adding some more experience to the lineup. Since Edmundson is so much more skilled, though, it’d probably make the most sense just to push forward and go with the same defensive lineup as usual.
Update: Bortuzzo and winger Magnus Paajarvi are expected to get into the Blues’ lineup on Thursday, replacing Edmundson and Ott, respectively. We’ll see if any other changes are in store.
Here’s a guess at what Thursday’s lineup might look like:
Jaden Schwartz–Alexander Steen–Vladimir Tarasenko
Patrik Berglund—Jori Lehtera–David Backes
Robby Fabbri–Paul Stastny–Troy Brouwer
Scottie Upshall–Kyle Brodziak–Magnus Paajarvi
Jay Bouwmeester–Alex Pietrangelo
Kevin Shattenkirk-Robert Bortuzzo
Carl Gunnarsson–Colton Parayko
Next: Sharks Lineup