Blues at Golden Knights Preview: Try, try again

So the Blues didn’t win on Wednesday night. So they wound up losing a shootout to one of the worst teams in the NHL. It didn’t matter*, as they couldn’t’ve clinched anyway. The Kings beat the Coyotes, keeping both teams still alive... but just barely.

No Vladimir Tarasenko, no Sammy Blais, Zach Sanford on the second line, No Vince Dunn, no Torey Krug. The Blues have been there before, and eked out a win, but instead on Wednesday they decided to cap off David Backes Night by giving his team a win.

Tonight, the Blues don’t even need to win. They can clinch with just one point, as long as the Los Angeles Kings don’t get any against the Avalanche. If the Kings get a extra time point, then the Blues have to win. Considering the team that Colorado is playing against, tonight would be a really grand opportunity for the Blues to beat Vegas.

That may be difficult. The Golden Knights have won 13 of their last 15 games and have a four point lead on the Avalanche for first place in the West Division.

The Blues are down 2-3-1 in the series, but those three regulation losses have been by scores of 5-1, 5-1, and 6-1. Overall, Vegas has outscored the Blues 25-15. Perhaps some defense tonight would behoove St. Louis. Dunn may not be able to contribute, since he’s still day-to-day, but hopefully some of the key cogs can return tonight, and hopefully the team is tight on turnovers. If not, Marc-Andre Fleury may well add another win to his already third-best total.

*honestly, that point would’ve been helpful