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St. Louis Blues Try to Avoid Winless Homestand While Hosting Los Angeles Kings

By Patrick Karraker

Nov 3, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; Los Angeles Kings defenseman Alec Martinez (27) reaches for the puck on St. Louis Blues right wing Vladimir Tarasenko (91) during the third period at Scottrade Center. The Los Angeles Kings defeat the St. Louis Blues 3-0. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 3, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; Los Angeles Kings defenseman Alec Martinez (27) reaches for the puck on St. Louis Blues right wing Vladimir Tarasenko (91) during the third period at Scottrade Center. The Los Angeles Kings defeat the St. Louis Blues 3-0. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Blues will try to end their three-game homestand on a good note against the Kings.

The St. Louis Blues will host the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night at Scottrade Center, wrapping up a three-game homestand which has so far seen them suffer a 4-1 loss to the Calgary Flames and a 2-1 shootout loss to the Detroit Red Wings. As the Blues enter Saturday’s game, they’re frustrated with their lack of scoring and will be looking to finish the homestand on a good note against L.A.

The Kings won’t be the easiest opponent. While they’ve shown obvious weaknesses during the early season, they’ve displayed tremendous grit in managing to win four straight games after the end of regulation, beating the Dallas Stars, Columbus Blue Jackets, and Nashville Predators in overtime and the Vancouver Canucks in a shootout. The Kings lost their first three prior to this run, so they’re obviously not impenetrable, but for a Blues team that has found it impossible to score more than one goal per game lately, the trends show that it’s going to be tough to hang with the Kings in overtime if they don’t shut them out.

The Blues’ lineup won’t undergo nearly as much of a makeover as Ken Hitchcock teased after Thursday night’s loss, when he said that “We’ve got to look at combinations, what’s working, what’s not working, what we need to get more from.” Perhaps the most surprising development is that fourth-line left winger Scottie Upshall will be a healthy scratch for the second straight game, while Dmitrij Jaskin remains in that spot. Upshall had been a mainstay at that position since he unseated Jaskin from it last January.

Left wingers David Perron and Robby Fabbri will switch spots, with Fabbri set to receive minutes that are more reflective of his minuscule production so far–just three assists and a minus-4 rating in eight games. Other than that, the only lineup change will be the insertion of Carl Gunnarsson in place of Robert Bortuzzo, who was injured in Thursday night’s game.

Next: Blues Assign Magnus Paajarvi to AHL Chicago

Here’s how the lineup is expected to look:

David Perron-Paul Stastny-Alexander Steen

Jori Lehtera–Jaden Schwartz–Vladimir Tarasenko

Robby Fabbri-Patrik Berglund–Nail Yakupov

Dmitrij Jaskin-Kyle Brodziak–Ryan Reaves

Jay Bouwmeester–Alex Pietrangelo

Carl Gunnarsson-Kevin Shattenkirk

Joel Edmundson–Colton Parayko

Jake Allen

Scratches: Robert Bortuzzo, Ty Rattie, Scottie Upshall

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