[While I like to take credit for good work done by other people as much as I can, this game day thread was written for you by none other than Bradley Leigh Lee. He cannot post it himself because apparently sports blogging on work hours is not an approved activity at Megalotron Industries and World Domination Advisors Incorporated.]
To say that Chris Stewart of the Avalanche enjoyed playing the Blues last season is like saying Colorado has a few tall hills in the area. Or I like drinking alcohol. Major understatements.
In four games vs. St. Louis last year, Stewart scored seven goals and 12 total points. In all of last season, Stewart scored more than one goal against the same opposition six times. So that means against 23 other teams, he was worth a goal or less over the whole year. His 12 points were more than double his output against any other team. He scored 64 points on the season, 19% of his points came in the four games against St. Louis.
If he played an 82-game schedule against the Blues, at that pace he would post 246 points for the season. That's fairly impressive.
On the year, Stewart leads the Avalanche in goals, 10, and points, 18. But he's also a minus-3 and has spent the second most amount of time in the penalty box. All that and he just turned 23 on Oct. 30. In other words, get used to Stewart taking out his aggression on the Blues for possibly the next decade or more. It sucks. Deal with it. Hopefully the Blues will deal with it starting tonight in Colorado.
Pun peddler Dan O'Neill with the Post-Dispatch says Carlo Colaiacovo has been activated and is expected to lace ‘em up tonight. Brad Winchester could play tonight as well, but that's just us being pessimistic.
O'Neill also points out that the two best Slovakian goaltenders ever will face off tonight with Jaroslav Halak expected in goal for St. Louis and Peter Budaj for Colorado. We'll give a dozen Schrutebucks to anyone who can come up with the second best matchup of Slovakian goaltenders ever.
You might have noticed it's been a rough week for the Blues. You might even call them the "struggling Blues." But if you look at the standings, they're still right in the thick of things in the Central Division. Only Detroit has more points right now. But to keep pace, the Blues have to make it over the hump and prove they can score goals and win without T.J. Oshie. It's as simple as that.
Broadcast is on Versus for all you TV viewers and Darren McCarty as Caveman Analyst fans, KMOX for you radio folks and Mile High Hockey for those of you who want to see what the other side is saying. Our guess is that whatever they're saying, they're also including pictures of Snoopy characters while doing it.
This is your game day thread. Treat it like a snow globe: shake it the fuck up and let the pieces fall where they may.