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The Blues road trip marches on to the Garden State tonight. In a similar fashion, the parade to the trainer's office continues as well. The latest injury is to Steve Ott, who will not be making this trip at all. That takes him out of tonight's game as well as Thursday's match against the Rangers. Of course, that's cause for celebration among many in the Blues fanbase, but you also have to realize that this also throws off the team's sense of normalcy. Those are minutes that have to be picked up elsewhere, and those are usually difficult minutes at that.
I wake up every evening
With a big smile on my face
And it never feels out of place
But just as one door closes, another opens. This time, we get to take our first look at the newest Blues player Martin Havlat (wearing #29). Fitting that he debuts with his new team in a game against his old team. While there probably isn't a LOT of animosity against the Devils franchise, there's surely a degree of "show them what they missed out on" type of motivation burning within a few of the Blues players. With Havlat, forward Scott Gomez and assistant GM Martin Brodeur all have history with the Devils. I hope that competitive fire burns bright tonight, and earns the Blues a few points from those "rejects".
Now where's your picket fence love
And where's that shiny car
And did it ever get you far
The Devils have certainly been on fire themselves, lately. After getting of to an 0-3-1 start, they've turned things around. Since then, they've gone on an 8-2-0 tear, beating some decent teams like the Canucks, Hawks, and Sens in that run. They're led in scoring by Mike Cammalleri with 14 pts (5G, 9A) and Adam Henrique has the most goals with 7 so far this year. Our old friend Lee Stempniak is tied for 2nd on the team in total points, with 12 (3G, 9A). Watch out for Kyle Palmieri , who now has 9 points in the past 6 games. And of course, the foundation for this team is Cory Schneider . In 11 starts this year, he's posted a .923 Save Percentage and 2.15 GAA. He's expected to start tonight for the Devils.
I don't know what to expect from this team anymore. After the #RoarBacon game against Chicago, and then the herculean efforts of Jake Allen against Nashville, pretty much anything seems possible. If history is any indication, the Blues swept last season's series, including a 1-0 shutout by Jake in New Jersey. I suppose that bodes well, but that's why you have to watch the game. There's no telling what's going to happen next. But that's also what makes it fun.
When you see my face
Hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell
Further Reading;
All About The Jersey (the blog formerly known as In Lou We Trust)
Blues vs Devils coverage
GameDay Twitter Feed:
Tweets from https://twitter.com/CrossCheckRaise/lists/gameday
Final Verse: East coast trip means early start times. The puck drops at 6:00 PM St Louis time, and the GDT should drop shortly beforehand. The TV broadcast is on Fox Sports MW, and the radio call will be on KMOX 1120 AM. Until then, check out the latest episode of Beyond Checkerdome (cheap plug!) and check out the HoF stuff circulating the web. Lots of good stuff out there.
Here's tonight's music theme in video format. I can't believe this (especially the chant part) hasn't been adopted by the Devils for a goal song.
LGB!!!