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The Blues are off to a great start this year, leading the Western Conference with a record of 5-1. It's fine to be happy with he results so far... but let's not get too crazy just yet. Who have the Blues beat this year? Vancouver is off to a good start, but they aren't expected to do much this year - nobody is considering them a playoff team. Calgary is hurting this season, but everyone knew they'd fall to earth again. We've beaten Edmonton - twice- but that's the team that collects lottery picks like Pokemon. Winnipeg was a challenge, sure .. but what else would you expect from Conference III?
What I'm getting at is, well ... that body count isn't too impressive. It's a good start. The only team that's done better is Montreal. Who do we play next?
Dammit.
The Habs are 6-0 to start this year, as if they've picked up from where they left off last year. Those wins were against some really good teams like the Rangers and Penguins, and some good-not-great teams like the Wings and Bruins. Through those six games, they've scored 20 goals, second only to ... the Blues at 21. The Canadiens have allowed only 26.5 shots on goal per game, bested only by a handful of teams... including the Blues with 25.0 (leads the league). It's like they're pretty good or something. Maybe I'm feeling a little better about this.
Montreal will start Carey Price in net, last year's Hart and Vezina winner. So far this year, he's posted a .957 SV% and a 1.20 GAA. The Blues will start Jake Allen in goal.
About that ... Before last year, the Blues had gone 6-0-1 against the Habs. In the 2014-2015 campaign, Coach Hitch started Jake Allen in both games against Montreal. The result: two losses, and Jake posted a .830 SV% and a 4.51 GAA. I don't know what Hitch's plan is: maybe to get Jake to exorcise some demons and build some confidence, perhaps? Anyhow, that could be a questionable plan.
If nothing else, it should be an entertaining match, and a better test of where the Blues stand in the league.
Further Reading:
Blues vs Canadiens coverage
GameDay Twitter Feed:
Tweets from https://twitter.com/CrossCheckRaise/lists/gameday
Final Verse: Eastern Conference, Eastern Time. Puck drops at 6:30 PM St Louis time, and the GameDay Thread will drop shortly beforehand. The TV broadcast will be on Fox Sports MW, and the radio call will be on KMOX 1120. You'll either need to cut short your happy hour, or just extend it into game time. However you make it happen, make sure you drop by and say hello. We'll be there, with puppies.
Double feature today: You can choose which you like better, the original
or the cover:
Either way, LGB!!!