Coyotes At Blues Preview: Will The Yotes Have Some Bite?

In March, the Coyotes like to do stuff in pairs. They win two, they lose two, they win two... and now, in St. Louis, they're right at the start of a "lose two" set. Hopefully.

Jake Allen was in net in the last game on March 7th, which the Blues won 6-3 in Phoenix. It was a lopsided loss that the Coyotes took, and it wouldn't shock me in the least if they weren't more than a little frustrated. Mike Smith was in net for all six goals, and Scott Nichol had the game winner, for God's sake. You can't tell me that Phoenix'd like some revenge served up cold.

It's up for the Blues' defense to prevent that from happening. They've been a little better the past few games, though if they could work on the turn-over issue and on clearing the puck effectively from their own zone, that would be tremendous.

Looking at the Blues' offense, they have two players (Chris Stewart with 23 and David Perron with 20) who have cracked the 20 point mark, and defensemen Alex Pietrangelo and Kevin Shattenkirk are darn close. Stewart has been absolutely solid as of late, with four goals and five assists in his last five games. In that same time period, David Perron has two goals and four assists, and Patrik Berglund has four goals and two assists. I guess that line's a keeper.

Oshie, though, probably won't be contributing tonight. He'll more than likely sit out with a rib injury.

One other quick thing -- Barret Jackman is a +8. Alex Pietrangelo is a -4. If you sit next to a Jackman hater, you could always toss that stat their way, but they probably won't care.