An interesting Saturday night on tap here in St. Louis. Blues are on the East Coast at Philadelphia at 6 p.m. local, just more than an hour before the Cardinals begin Game 3 of the World Series (even though Canada is the only foreign country to field a team, so North American Series Minus Mexico is more accurate) in Texas.
There's a chance of rain. So the perfect scenario would be rain delay until about 8:30 so we can catch the entire hockey game before baseball. Unless of course you don't care about baseball. Answer Man admitted this week he didn't know who the Cardinals were playing or what TV channel it would be on.
The Blues are coming off of a big overtime win against Carolina on St. Louis ice on Friday night. A couple hour flight overnight and here they are. And if Brian Elliott doesn't get the start tonight after outplaying Jaroslav Halak in both his starts this year, I don't know what to think of Davis Payne's coaching.
Don't think there were any big injuries last night. No concussions is a refreshing game experience.
So the Flyers are pretty good. They lost 5-2 on Thursday night at home to the Capitals. So they may be looking for a stronger performance to atone for that one. They come into tonight's game with a record of 4-1-1 with a goal differential of plus-6. The Blues are 3-4-0 and minus-4. Mismatch?
Claude Girioux is enjoying a potential breakout season. Even though he made his NHL debut in 2007-08, he doesn't turn 24 until January. He has five goals on the season and has goals in his last two games. Some guy named Chris Pronger leads the Flyers in assists with five.
Back in the early days of the Blues franchise, the Flyers and Blues played often as expansion teams in the same conference. It was at Philadelphia that Red Berenson scored six goals in one game. It was there that the Blues went into the stands to fight the fans and some got arrested. If you ever have a beer with Bobby Plager, ask him about that night and how he stayed out of jail even though he was one of the main instigators. Now the Blues and Flyers play once or twice a season. That's a shame, but part of the modern NHL where the rivalries with Nashville and Columbus are much more important.
You probably didn't read any of that anyway. But if you did, make your first comment Fuck William Penn or Fuck Cheesesteaks. Even if they are delicious. Call it market research to see who actually reads this stuff up here before getting to the comments down there.
This is your game day thread. Comment like it's not baseball season anymore.