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The next stop on the road trip takes the Blues to Edmonton, where St Louis returns the favor of playing in the Oilers home opener. The Oilers started their season on the road in the Central Division, going 0-3 against the Blues, the Preds, and the Stars. As excited as the Edmontonians were to see McDavid play in his debut, they will be even more nuts about him when they can look at him with their own eyes. One thing has at least been put to rest - Connor scored his first goal finally, in a losing effort to the Dallas Stars.
Get used to that, McD.
Just as nuts as the Edmonton fanbase, the bad news just keeps coming for the Blues. Already down one rookie with Robby Fabbri's concussion, the Blues are sitting veteran Kevin Shattenkirk for this game with the notorious Lower Body Injury. He hasn't been ruled out for Friday (yet), but the Blues have already started making plans around his absence. They've placed Fabbri on IR, and with that open roster spot they've called up Chris Butler. I don't expect Jeeves to play tonight, since Robert Bortuzzo is likely to slot into the lineup in Shatty's place. Having Butler in the pressbox will be insurance, and may be useful if anything else happens. At this rate, we're losing a player a game. I hope that trend doesn't continue.
One positive trend is the Blues routinely beating the Oilers. The Blues have won 7 straight against them, and outscored them by a combined 30-11. You have to think that an improved Oilers squad, an injured Blues team, and the added bonus of home ice and a fired-up home opener crowd all give Edmonton hope that they can turn that pattern around. If the Blues can score early, maybe they can deflate those dreams. At the very least, let's not put one in our own net and spot them a lead, OK boys?
Brian Elliott returns in net for the Blues, and the Oilers answer with Cam Talbot. I wonder how Vladimir Tarasenko is going to victimize him tonight? Taylor Hall has missed some time with illness, but will probably be ready to go tonight.
Further Reading:
Gameday Twitter Feed:
Tweets from https://twitter.com/CrossCheckRaise/lists/gameday
Final Verse: The puck drops at 8:00 St Louis time, and the GDT should drop shortly before then. You can roll happy hour into dinner drinks into pregaming and right into the game itself. No judging here. The TV broadcast will be on Fox Sports MW, and the radio call should be on KMOX 1120 AM.
This cool article from Calgary includes asking Colton Parayko about his favorite moment while growing up an Oilers fan. His answer is the clip below, a classic that will last forever. You get both calls in this video.
LGB!!!