Golden Knights at Blues preview: Perron reunites with his newest old club

St. Louisan and former Blue Paul Stastny was acquired in the off-season by the Vegas Golden Knights to a three year, $19.5 million contract. He then promptly received a lower body injury and he has been out on the IR since October 15th. Unfortunately for Vegas, he still has a month and a half left to go on his recovery.

Also unfortunately for Vegas, they haven’t been able to replicate last season’s spark yet. They’re 5-6-1 after a loss to the Nashville Predators Tuesday night. They sit at 24th in the league with 11 points, two more points and three spots higher than the Blues.

St. Louis has some momentum heading into tonight. Their 7-3 victory over the visiting Chicago Blackhawks gave Mike Yeo at least one more day. The fact that they’re tied with the Capitals at the top of the league with the most PPG and are fifth on the power play over all with a 29.5% effectiveness is something to smile about (especially in comparison to Vegas on the PP, who are second to last in the league at a 12.2% effectiveness rate). That 78.8% effectiveness on the PK, however, could be improved upon.

To be honest, as a whole, the team’s defense could be improved upon. Luckily Carl Gunnarsson could be returning tonight. Robby Fabbri and Nikita Soshnikov may also be returning to add a bit of offensive punch, though that hasn’t been the Blues’ issue this year.

Jake Allen is still questionable for gametime, even though he says that he’s ok.

Overall, the Blues haven’t had problems with goaltending and haven’t had problems scoring. Their defense has been decidedly sub-par. Allowing Vegas three goals tonight shouldn’t be in the game plan.