Kings At Blues Morning Open Thread: Tarasenko Returns

Saturday night's 3-2 overtime win against the Minnesota Wild was a coming out party of sorts for David Backes. Scoreless until Saturday, he opened and closed the team's scoring, taking his squad on his back and powering them through some pretty awful personnel losses.

Jake Allen hasn't been a schlub either. As much of a massive team effort the Blues' wins have been, they've been backstopped by a player who obviously has found his groove. Allen was chosen as the NHL's second star of the week last week, with a 3-0 record and a teeny .98 GAA and a .963 save percentage. There's no reason that he shouldn't start tonight.

Ty Rattie saw some time with Alexander Steen and Jori Lehtera, but that top line time has more than likely come to an end with the return of Vladimir Tarasenko tonight. Tarasenko had a hat trick against the Kings last December, but the Blues still lost two of three games against LA last season. The Kings missed the post-season last year, and right now they're second in the Pacific Division.

This is your morning open thread. Hang around for a Lighting the Lamp and your GDT, and while you're waiting for the puck to drop, check out our friends at Jewels From The Crown.