I'm doubting they will, but I beg Blues fans not to boo Jax every time he touches the puck.
PREDATORS (15-10-6) at BLUES (18-10-4)
TV: FS-TN, FS-MW
Season series: Jake Allen made an NHL career-high 45 saves to help the St. Louis Blues defeat the Nashville Predators 4-0 on Nov. 7 at Bridgestone Arena. Alexander Steen had a goal and an assist, and Scott Gomez had two assists; Colton Parayko, Alex Pietrangelo and Scottie Upshall scored.
Predators team scope: Defenseman Barret Jackman, who spent the first 13 seasons of his NHL career with St. Louis, returns after signing with Nashville as an unrestricted free agent. Forward Colin Wilson (lower body) practiced Wednesday and could return to the lineup. Wilson, who has one goal and nine points in 26 games, has missed four games. The Predators entered Wednesday as one of three teams in the NHL in the top five in shots for (third at 31.4 per game) and shots against (second at 26.5). Predators defensemen are No. 1 in the NHL with 23 goals, and are one of two teams (Carolina Hurricanes) with more than 19 goals from that position. Nashville is second in the NHL behind the Dallas Stars (80) in points from defensemen (76).
Blues team scope: St. Louis entered Wednesday No. 1 in the NHL in penalty killing (87.9 percent) and have killed 23 straight power plays the past 10 games. The Blues are 9-6-2 at Scottrade Center; they play 11 games this month here and are 2-4-0 so far. "We still have a lot of games left on this home [stretch]," defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk said. "We have to get it back in our favor. We haven't played our best hockey here at home and there's no dancing around that. ... We have to make sure that we're focusing on the positive things and moving on." Shattenkirk has a five-game point streak, as does forward David Backes. Shattenkirk has 18 points in the past 16 games (four goals, 14 assists).
Jake Allen's shutout against Nashville in November came at the tail end of a strong start to the season for St. Louis and a similar performance in the next meeting could help the Blues get back on track.
St. Louis seeks a third consecutive victory over its Central Division rivals and first win streak in over a month when the struggling Predators visit Thursday night.
One of Allen's four shutouts was a 4-0 win at Nashville on Nov. 7 in which he had a career-high 45 saves - the most by any NHL goaltender in a shutout this season.
While it was just the Blues' second straight win in a series that has split the last six meetings, St. Louis improved to 13-4-0 against the Predators since Feb. 23, 2012. That span includes a 6-2-0 mark at Scottrade Center.
St. Louis (18-10-4), which opened the season 11-3-1, is seeking its first back-to-back victories since winning three in a row Nov. 4-10. The Blues are 7-7-3 since then and have traded wins and losses in their last six games.
Tuesday's 4-3 victory at Winnipeg helped drown out the bitterness of a 2-3-0 homestand. Thursday's contest is the Blues' eighth in 10 games at Scottrade Center, where they are 9-6-2 overall but just 2-4-0 in their last six. In the pair of wins, St. Louis has owned a scoring advantage of 7-1, but that flips to 14-5 in the four losses.
Five of St. Louis' eight remaining games in December will come at home.
"We still have a lot of games left on this home stretch," Kevin Shattenkirk told the team's official website. "We have to get it back in our favor. We haven't played our best hockey here at home and there's no dancing around that."
Shattenkirk extended his point streak to five games with a pair of assists against the Jets, giving him 18 in his last 16 games (four goals, 14 assists). David Backes also pushed his point streak to five games with an assist, while Alexander Steen and Vladimir Tarasenko finished with a goal and two assists each.
The tallies from Steen and Tarasenko came on the power play, and the Blues penalty-kill unit improved to 21 for 21 in the last nine games by nixing two Jets opportunities.
Nashville (15-10-6) fell to 4-7-3 in its last 14 with Tuesday's 2-1 overtime loss to Calgary, closing a three-game homestand 1-1-1.
The Predators have lost each of their last six overtime games and have yet to score in the extra period. Their only two wins after regulation came with back-to-back shootout victories in mid-October. Nashville is 2-4-2 in its last eight away from home.
"You're going to go through some slumps during the season, and I think it happens to every team," Roman Josi told the team's official website. "You want to win every game if you can, but that's just not going to happen and that's not possible in this league."
Predators defenseman Barret Jackman faced his former team for the first time in November and is set to play his first game as a visitor in St. Louis, where he spent the first 13 seasons of his career.
Goaltender Pekka Rinne suffered the loss in Nashville on Nov. 7, allowing four goals on 28 shots. He is 16-13-4 with a 2.20 goals-against average in 33 starts against St. Louis - the most against any team in his career.
2015-2016 LGB Sponsor of Not Ott, because he is a booger-eating dumb dumb
Blues team scope: St. Louis entered Wednesday No. 1 in the NHL in penalty killing (87.9 percent) and have killed 23 straight power plays the past 10 games.
Yeah, knew that was almost like mentioning "shut out" with 7 minutes to go.
What's encouraging is that Allen's save % is up and his GAA is down, so in spite of a few eggs he laid this season, he's definitely improving as a goalie. If only the rest of the team could stop spotting the opposition the first goal of the game, my outlook would be a lot more positive. It's aggravating always playing from behind early on. Fluky goal or power play goal or whatever, you can't keep letting the other team go up early. Again this is on leadership, especially Backes. They need more step in their game from the get-go. In the first two minutes the other goalie should already be feeling very uncomfortable.
glen a richter wrote:What's encouraging is that Allen's save % is up and his GAA is down, so in spite of a few eggs he laid this season, he's definitely improving as a goalie. If only the rest of the team could stop spotting the opposition the first goal of the game, my outlook would be a lot more positive. It's aggravating always playing from behind early on. Fluky goal or power play goal or whatever, you can't keep letting the other team go up early. Again this is on leadership, especially Backes. They need more step in their game from the get-go. In the first two minutes the other goalie should already be feeling very uncomfortable.
Do not understand your constant bashing on Backes. He's a good Captain and leader. From what I understand the team is completely behind him being the Captain.
glen a richter wrote:What's encouraging is that Allen's save % is up and his GAA is down, so in spite of a few eggs he laid this season, he's definitely improving as a goalie. If only the rest of the team could stop spotting the opposition the first goal of the game, my outlook would be a lot more positive. It's aggravating always playing from behind early on. Fluky goal or power play goal or whatever, you can't keep letting the other team go up early. Again this is on leadership, especially Backes. They need more step in their game from the get-go. In the first two minutes the other goalie should already be feeling very uncomfortable.
Do not understand your constant bashing on Backes. He's a good Captain and leader. From what I understand the team is completely behind him being the Captain.
Why does it take this team so long to get going? Who's not motivating the team to put in 60 minutes a night? 1) Hitchcock, 2) Backes. The captain sees they're off to a sluggish start, as a leader he has to light a fire under them.
theohall wrote:I need to do some research, but it seems like the team plays better after it gets down a goal than when they actually score first.
Not sure how we fit him in the cap, but I'm sure we would have to send them a good bit of salary regardless of our cap situation, so might take care of itself.
2010-2011 Official LGB Sponsor of Kevin Shattenkirk
2016-2017 Official LGB Sponsor of Dmitri Jaskin
2017-2018 Official LGB Sponsor of Jake Allen
Not sure how we fit him in the cap, but I'm sure we would have to send them a good bit of salary regardless of our cap situation, so might take care of itself.
This could just be goalie talk. After Bishop, their depth at that position isn't very good. But Ott, Berglund, and Elliot for Stamkos doesn't significantly change either team's cap. Too bad the NHL frowns upon trading injured players.
Official LGB sponsor of Robert Thomas 2022-2023 Season
Not sure how we fit him in the cap, but I'm sure we would have to send them a good bit of salary regardless of our cap situation, so might take care of itself.
This could just be goalie talk. After Bishop, their depth at that position isn't very good. But Ott, Berglund, and Elliot for Stamkos doesn't significantly change either team's cap. Too bad the NHL frowns upon trading injured players.
Ott, Berglund and Elliott for Stamkos would be pretty amazing. I think it might be so amazing that they say no to it though. I don't see them trading their 25yo superstar for a 3rd liner, 4th liner and backup goalie.
I believe he's a UFA after the season though, so could be something kinda like the Miller trade where we have to give up more if we re-sign him.
2010-2011 Official LGB Sponsor of Kevin Shattenkirk
2016-2017 Official LGB Sponsor of Dmitri Jaskin
2017-2018 Official LGB Sponsor of Jake Allen
Not sure how we fit him in the cap, but I'm sure we would have to send them a good bit of salary regardless of our cap situation, so might take care of itself.
This could just be goalie talk. After Bishop, their depth at that position isn't very good. But Ott, Berglund, and Elliot for Stamkos doesn't significantly change either team's cap. Too bad the NHL frowns upon trading injured players.
I'm not sure I live in a world where the Lightning would trade Stamkos for Steve Ott, Patrik Berglund, and Brian Elliott.
2015-2016 LGB Sponsor of Not Ott, because he is a booger-eating dumb dumb
I heard a ridiculous stat about Tarasenko and had to fact check it myself, but sure enough 19 of his 20 goals have come while tied or trailing. With the lone exception being his goal against Dallas in the 3-0 shutout.
2015-2016 LGB sponsor of Robert Bortuzzo
2014-2015 LGB sponsor of Kevin Shattenkirk
2013-2014 LGB sponsor of Brendan Morrow
2013 LGB sponsor of Jamie Langenbrunner
2011-2012 LGB sponsor of Jamie Langenbrunner
2008-2009 LGB sponsor of David Backes
Not sure how we fit him in the cap, but I'm sure we would have to send them a good bit of salary regardless of our cap situation, so might take care of itself.
This could just be goalie talk. After Bishop, their depth at that position isn't very good. But Ott, Berglund, and Elliot for Stamkos doesn't significantly change either team's cap. Too bad the NHL frowns upon trading injured players.
I'm not sure I live in a world where the Lightning would trade Stamkos for Steve Ott, Patrik Berglund, and Brian Elliott.
Understood. I'm not sure I want to live in that world...then again, the Blues once traded Chris Pronger for Eric Brewer, so I guess we have one coming?
ecbm wrote:
Understood. I'm not sure I want to live in that world...then again, the Blues once traded Chris Pronger for Eric Brewer, so I guess we have one coming?
Don't forget about the deal-balancer, Jeff Woywitka!
2015-2016 LGB sponsor of Robert Bortuzzo
2014-2015 LGB sponsor of Kevin Shattenkirk
2013-2014 LGB sponsor of Brendan Morrow
2013 LGB sponsor of Jamie Langenbrunner
2011-2012 LGB sponsor of Jamie Langenbrunner
2008-2009 LGB sponsor of David Backes
