Remember what I said in the preview about the possibility for Backes returning tonight? Scratch that.
Backes said he's progressing and hopes to be in "in the next little while." Don't look for tonight though. #stlblues
— Lou Korac (@lkorac10) January 2, 2014
Well, still, at least Ryan Reaves is in tonight. Chris Stewart should be too, and it sounds like from what he told Lou Korac that he was pretty close to being called Puddin Jr.
"A little bit of dental work yesterday morning. Not the ideal way you want to start off the new year," Stewart said. "... I didn't lose any (teeth), just pushed a couple back, got them realigned there, a couple wires and stuff like that. Nothing too serious. "
... You obviously want to take precaution with concussions these days. Just follow the concussion protocol. I felt good the last two days and I'm ready to go tonight."
"Oh, you know, just some wires and dental surgery. No biggie." If that's not a hockey player (and a damn lucky one) I don't know what is.
Tonight's Competition
Of course, no Blues game would be complete without some goalie controversy thrown into the mix. Who knows if it's real or not, but it's fun to pester Korac and Jeremy Rutherford about it on Twitter, huh? Brian Elliott gets the start tonight because a) he's the hot hand right now and b) Halak's sick. Jake Allen's been called up from Chicago - but JUST BECAUSE HALAK IS SICK.
Sheesh.
I shouldn't have to remind you that the Blues haven't won a game yet against a Californian team. It sure would be nice to start.