GameThread for St. Louis Blues at Detroit Red Wings, Apr 7, 2013

Early hockey games make me nervous. It breaks up teams' routines, and sometimes just the slightest tweak to a pre-game routine can absolutely ruin a team's chances at winning. It shouldn't be that way since these guys are all professionals and so forth, but it's just a fact. Hockey players are notorious creatures of habit.

Maybe the Red Wings are really impacted by early start times or something. Last Sunday's 7-2 loss against the Chicago Blackhawks was an early game and a crushing loss. Wouldn't it be swell if the Blues could replicate that? A few extra shots on net would certainly help. The Blues have been outshot in each of their last two games (27-19 against the Blue Jackets and 36-22 against the Hawks), and though they've won each, wouldn't it just make all of us feel better if they'd up the pressure a little? The Wings aren't going to start Gustavsson (disclaimer: this was written last night, so who knows. Maybe they did), so the Blues are going to have to work.

Let's win the season series, guys. Let's Go Blues.