As fantastic as last night's win was, the Blues must immediately put it out of their minds and focus on tonight's match-up with the Nashville Predators. The Preds have come out on top in each of the three games they've already played thus far, but those were all 1-goal games. The Blues could have won any or all of them. Anything less than 100% concentration could easily lead to another disappointing finish. One thing that works in our favor- there will be plenty of Blues fans in attendance tonight. This will probably be as close as it gets to having a home game on the road. We're going to need every edge we can get. With all of these road games ahead, and how close the Central Division is packed at the top, it's going to be a stressful second half of the season. Be prepared -
Thank God For Jack Daniels / Sex Slaves
The Enemy: Having already played them thrice, there's not a lot that you don't already know about the Preds. They play a tight defensive game, and rely heavily on their goaltender. Tonight Nashville is starting Pekka Rinne (46 starts, 2.40 GAA, .920 SV%) who has stolen games from us in the past. The Preds aren't known for getting a lot of goals, but they are actually 9th in the league for Goals For scoring. They are led by Martin Erat (11G/ 25A) in overall points and Patric Hornqvist in goals (15G /9A). As a team, they are 2nd in the league on the PP, converting 21.8% of the time. It would behoove the Blues to put on their halos and stay out of the penalty box tonight. Everybody is healthy on the Nashville roster, so expect the usual faces like Suter and Weber on the blueline and Legwand and Fisher up front. The newest addition is former Av Brandon Yip, who Nashville picked up on waivers Jan 19th. In 3 games with Nashville, he's registered 1 goal and 1 assist, after going without points all year in Colorado. In his career against St Louis, he has 5 goals in 6 games. Yeah, THAT guy.
Further Reading:
Blues vs Predators coverage
Final Verse: The puck drops a 7PM St Louis time, with the broadcasts on the usual outlets (FoxSports MW for TV, and KMOX 1120 AM for radio). Until then, this is your pregame warmup. Gather here, get your drinks settled, and prepare for a stressful couple of hours for your heart and liver. I've been on a British humor kick lately, so enjoy a clip from the brilliant BBC show "QI". Here, they discuss the "Durable Mike Malloy"
QI XL - An Irishman Can't be Killed with Alcohol (via Akfilm92)
LGB!
-CrossCheckRaise