Tonight the Blues stay in the Eastern Conference and take on the Devils. Unfortunately, these Devils are going to present a tougher challenge than the Sens did. They are one of the hottest teams going right now. Scoring a couple of goals early, like Tuesday, will help a lot. Hell, scoring goals -period- is a big bonus. No matter what happens, the Blues need to stand tall, take what the Devils dish out, and keep coming at 'em.

I Won't Back Down / Johnny Cash

Musical note: as much as I enjoy the Tom Petty original, no one sings this with as much conviction as The Man In Black.

The Enemy: This is probably the worst time to be pulling into East Rutherford, NJ to play the Devils. They are on a hell of a hot streak, having won 5 in a row including 2 against the current Conference-leading NY Rangers. In 4 of those games, NJ scored 4 or more goals. In the last 10 games, their record is 7-2-1. Their PK is second in the league, killing 88.7% of opponent power plays.

No surprise, the players to watch are familiar names Ilya Kovalchuk (10 pts in the last 5 games), Patrik Elias (currently riding a 6-game point streak) and Zach Parise (also on a 6-game point streak). Add to that David Clarkson, who has 5 goals in the last 5 games. Suffice it to say, their offense is clicking right now. Also, one new player to watch out for is rookie center Adam Henrique (13G/ 21A), who is one of the leading candidates for the Calder Trophy this year.

As for goaltending, the venerable Martin Brodeur has put up a stat line of .899 SV% and 2.66 GAA. According to the Twitterverse, backup netminder Johan Hedberg will likely get the start tonight. His numbers are .909% / 2.52.

Further Reading:

In Lou We Trust

Blues vs Devils coverage

Final Verse: An early start once again, as the puck drops at 6:00 PM St Louis time. The broadcasts are on the usual outlets, Fox Sports MW for TV and KMOX 1120 AM for radio. Until then, this is your pregame warmup. Gather here, vent just one more time about the Stevens deal, laugh at the redonkulous Kovalchuk contract, and enjoy this two-for-one special, as two fights broke out at the same time in NJ's last game with the Rangers:

Eric Boulton vs Brandon Prust & Cam Janssen vs Michael Rupp Feb 7, 2012 (via hockeyfightsdotcom)

LGB!

-CrossCheckRaise

If you've been on any of the message boards or NHL rumor sites or other Blues sites then you've seen the rumors: The Blues are looking for an offensive upgrade (some say scorer, I say playmaker). In exchange, they are willing to give up Patrik Berglund, Chris Stewart and Ben Bishop.

Here's why that won't happen.

Under the current ownership group and the reign of John Davidson as president, the Blues have made only a few trades that were not of the Sellers-At-The-Deadline variety. Among them:

• Trading Doug Weight to Anaheim for Andy McDonald (2007)
• Acquiring Carlo Colaiacovo and Alexander Steen from Toronto for Lee Stempniak (2008)
• Acquiring Jaroslav Halak from Montreal for Lars Eller and Ian Schultz (2010)
• Acquiring Chris Stewart and Kevin Shattenkirk along with a 2nd rd pick from Colorado for Jay McClement, Erik Johnson and a 1st rd pick (2011)

The common element of every one of these trades is that the Blues traded away assets of value. Better said, they traded away assets that were at their highest value. The rule to playing the stock market, and the NHL Trading Game, is to buy low and sell high. When a stock (player) is at his highest value, sell (trade) it. When the value goes down, the other guy is stuck with it. Likewise, buy (acquire) a stock (player) when the other guy has given up on it. When the value (player) explodes, so does your gain.

Continue reading this post »

Blues News

• Elliott returns to Ottawa as an opponent and stops 28 of 29 for a 3-1 win. David Perron woke up and scored twice. [NHL]
• The injuries are starting to pile up. The latest: Matt D'Agostini takes a blow to the head. [P-D]

NHL/Hockey News

• Scores from last night. Chicago and Nashville both lost, the latter losing in the shootout. The Blues have games in hand on these teams, so that's great news. [Vancouver Sun]
• The Devils beat the Rangers after Artem Anisimov's game-tying goal was waived off by officials due to goaltender interference. Did Anton Volchenkov shove Marian Gaborik into Brodeur? [Puck Daddy]
• Owen Nolan retired yesterday. [ESPN]
• Seattle relocation rumors are brewing. You know, like coffee. Oh man I'm clever. Fuck. [Montreal Gazette]
• The Red Wings are without Jimmy Howard for a while and Conklin won't cut it. Should they look for help? [Sports Illustrated]
• Lindy Ruff broke 3 ribs after Ville Leino crashed into him during a Sabres practice. He's day-to-day. [NHL]
• The amount of sellers at the trade deadline is projected to be very low, thus driving up the cost of available players. [USA Today]

Other Stuff

• BABY POLAR BEAR. Check your manliness at the door. [BuzzFeed]
• The last surviving World War I veteran has passed away. [The Telegraph]
• Sex myths you should stop believing. [Cracked]

Wednesday Video

I hate vloggers.

Send links to this e-mail I don't check.

gametimelinks AT gmail DOT com

The Blues continue to be a good team in the NHL. They are beating the teams they are supposed to beat, like a struggling Ottawa Senators team that was just bag-skated by the coaching staff, and they have a good record against the better teams in the league too. At home they are unbelievably 22-3-4. They are now 9-11-3 on the road, with three of the losses and two of the OT losses at the hands of Detroit and Nashville. Against the East they are now 10-0-2. They have beaten the class of the NHL with wins against San Jose, Vancouver, Detroit, the Rangers and Washington, all division leaders. They have beaten teams like Chicago and Pittsburgh.

The Blues are second in the division, tied in points but with two games in hand against Nashville and three points behind, but with two games in hand against Detroit. They've done it playing coach Ken Hitchcock's "200 foot game" and doing their best to play "all 60 minutes" as they are fond of saying in interviews. The commitment is there. The tenacity is there.

You could say that the fans are getting pretty cocky when we say there are teams we expect to beat now. That there are teams the Blues should definitely get both points from whenever they meet. It's only cocky if you can't back it up, as they say. And the Blues have made it possible for us to talk this way. The last time the Blues lost to a team that wasn't Detroit, Nashville, Vancouver or Pittsburgh (all top-10 teams in the NHL) was December 21st when they lost to Colorado.

So, we expect the Blues to beat a team like Ottawa which had lost it's previous six games. The Senators had scored three goals in a game only once in the last three weeks. They're spiraling out of the playoffs. The Blues, like big cats in the wild, pick off teams like the Senators for an afternoon snack.

But there are problems. The Blues do not consistently score enough, despite averaging over 31 shots per game, eighth best in the league. They have lulls in nearly every game where they end up chasing and giving up extended offensive opportunities to the opponent. They can be knocked off their game and tricked into taking dumb penalties at dumb times.

These are all issues that must be addressed. Some are just part of adjusting to the new culture: dumb penalties can be weeded out. Avoiding letdowns are a team effort and require extra effort when they start in order to end them quickly. Some issues may need an adjustment: a large quantity of shots means jack and squat if you don't have any quality shots. As we wrote about on Monday, the answer doesn't look like another goal scorer, it looks like adding another playmaker. But is that guy Andy McDonald or is he someone to be acquired by trade?

A bigger problem is beating teams within the division. The Blues are 16-8-3 against the Pacific and Northwest Divisions combined. Against the Central they are 5-6-2. With the way the top eight seeds are shaping up, it looks like four Central teams could be in that mix. If the Blues expect to go anywhere exciting in the playoffs, they're going to have to knock off one or two other Central teams to do it. They have to withstand the lightning strikes off offense from Chicago. They have to crack through Nashville's defense and Pekka Rinne. They have to get over the mental block they have about the Red Menace at the Joe Louis.

Confidence comes from playing well. The Blues are playing well. With a couple tweaks and a couple big wins against those other three Central teams and we might really have something here.

Until then, they just need to keep getting two points from the teams they are supposed to get two points from. Like New Jersey on Thursday.

Let's go Blues.

Part of me hopes that Brian Elliott gets to play tonight in Ottawa against his former team. And part of me hopes that new No. 1 goaltender Jaroslav Halak will start.

Sure, it would be a nice story, on par with Halak's triumphant return to Montreal where he blanked his former team. Halak obviously had some nice motivation and played a tremendous game earning him a standing ovation from the finicky Montreal crowd. So hopefully Elliott would have similar motivation for his return to his old stomping grounds in Ottawa.

Oh wait, he has been back. Remember that little shindig back in January called the All-Star Game? Yeah, I think the teams were Sweden vs. the Jolly Green Giants or some shit. Yeah. Elliott had it all set up to be the hero for his team, I think it was named after Hakan Loob. The game was tied 6-6 (defensive struggle) going into the third. All he had to do was lock it down for 20 minutes and he'd get the win. And then he allowed six goals and took the loss.

And it's not like he finished his career strong in Ottawa. Before he was shipped to Colorado late last season, his save percentage dropped below 90 percent and his goals-against average was over three goals a game. Remember, he's on a two-way contract this season for a reason. Maybe the extra motivation could propel him to the strong play he had earlier this season. Or maybe he'd be more comfortable watching Halak. Hard to say.

So that Jason Arnott is out. And Alex Steen and Andy McDonald didn't make the road trip. So the Blues could get a little healthier.

This is your game day thread. Comment like the Blues could use two points. Which they totally could.

There was no time to savor a victory against LA, but the Blues have had plenty of time to chew on the loss to Nashville. Not a moment too soon though, the Blues can now work to rebound against the Ottawa Senators tonight. Of course, the big story will be Billy ,er Brian Elliott's return to his old team. Just a couple of weeks ago, he had a chance to play in Ottawa as part of the All Star Game. Of course, that's all about having good things to say about his old team and fans, and making nice with everyone. Tonight, on the other hand, is a game that actually means something. Surely there's an extra motivation in playing the team that sent you away in a trade. When the same opportunity came for Jaroslav Halak, it yielded a shutout win. Let's hope that Elliott does something similar. Not that Elliott can be too mad with the Ottawa front office - I'd think it is safe to say that he's

Better Off With The Blues / Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown

The Enemy: The Sens had a pretty good first half of the season, and were one of the surprises of the league. Lately, however, they've gone winless in their last 6 games, with only an OT Loss to the Islanders to show for their recent efforts. Their last game was a 5-0 shutout loss to the rival Toronto Maple Leafs. They are led in scoring by Jason Spezza (20G/ 30A), although he's gone without points since 01/19 (6 games). Right behind is youngster Erik Karlsson with 8G /40A. Milan Michalek is tops in goals with 23G / 10A, and captain Daniel Alfredsson is also in the thick of things (17G / 22A).

As for goaltending, the return on Ottawa's trade of Elliott was Craig Anderson. He's started 48 of 55 games for the Sens, a heavy workload, and has turned in stats of 2.95 GAA and .910 SV%. If they do not start Anderson, then expect to see Alex Auld in goal (3.57 GAA / .880 %). The Sens are in the middle of the pack in both PP and PK%.

Further Reading:

Silver Seven

Blues vs Senators coverage

Final Verse: East Coast again, so it's an early start. The puck drops at 6:30 PM St Louis time. The broadcasts are on the usual outlets: FoxSports MW for TV and KMOX 1120 AM for radio. Until then, consider this your pregame morning skate. Gather here, laugh at Craig Anderson-ogling-ice-girl pics, wonder why "Senators" are depicted as military helmets, and enjoy one of the better Bloge Salming / Down Goes Brown videos:

How To Be An NHL Defenceman (via blogesalming)

LGB!

-CrossCheckRaise