Tonight's Blues lineup still isn't the same as it was in October when the team was dominating the beginning of the season, but it's getting a little closer. Well at least as close as it will get until David Perron and Andy McDonald return from brain injuryville.
The Blues are expected to dress defensemen Roman Polak and Alex Pietrangelo since the Eastern European cut his wrist on Sidney Rice's skate and Pietrangelo fucked up his shoulder. Combine that with Erik Johnson who didn't ruin his season after all and the Blues' defensive corps are complete. And that's a good thing because the Canucks still like to score, especially with the Sedin twins. With each other.
So maybe the Blues won't have to score four goals to send the game to overtime tonight, which would be nice. This team started out as a defensive juggernaut fueled by goaltender Jaroslav Halak. Minus the broken T.J. Oshie, the best defenders on the team are all playing and relatively healthy.
The Blues have a busy bit of schedule right here. They fly off tonight for Atlanta, a game that won't be on television at all, anywhere, and then come back to play the Red Wings on Thursday. Then they take two days for Christmas and then play three home games next week including New Year's Eve. The defense better be rested because they're going to be working hard from now until New Year's.
The Blues need some points to avoid the nether regions of the Western Conference standings. But let's face it, they need two points every night.
This is your game day thread. Treat it like you're Santa's Little Helper and this fucker is a dollhouse that needs to get finished by Friday night. Get hammering, elves.