GDT #16: 11/12/16 | 6:00 PM CST | @ Blue Jackets | FSMW/KMOX

[theohall]

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The St. Louis Blues take on the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday at Nationwide Arena to close out the season series between the two teams.

The Blues (7-5-3) dropped a 3-1 decision to the Central Division-rival Nashville Predators on Thursday. They have only scored twice in their last two games, with the paucity of goals beginning to be an issue that needs to be addressed.

"I think after a while you start living on one goal, you're not going to win many games," coach Ken Hitchcock told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The Blues have scored one goal or fewer in eight of their 15 games this season and two goals just twice in the last 12 games. St. Louis has allowed six more goals than it scored.

"We had chances to score more than one goal," left winger Jaden Schwartz said to the Post-Dispatch. "We couldn't find a way and only end up scoring one. It's tough to keep winning when you only score one or two goals."

In addition to low goal-scoring, the Blues are taking too many penalties. They've taken two too-many-men-on-the-ice penalties in the last two games, and are getting called for delay-of-game penalties for flipping the puck into the stands as well.

"Scoring goals is hard and it's a matter of sacrificing your body," St. Louis right winger Scottie Upshall said. "It's a matter of going to the net and winning puck battles, things we've been good at doing. Right now, we're taking the easy way out."

The Blue Jackets (6-4-2) are coming off a 5-2 loss at the Boston Bruins on Thursday. Boston scored four goals in a span of 4:01 in the first period, chasing goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky after making five saves on nine shots.

Uncharacteristically, Columbus committed numerous unforced turnovers and saw errant passes by both the forwards and defensemen.

"It was forwards, it was defensemen ... and the worst part is we hang out Bob in a game like that when he's been playing so well," Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno said to the Columbus Dispatch. "We hung him out to dry."

The Blue Jackets are hoping the loss at Boston can be marked as an aberration, and not a precursor of a deeper issue. They have been playing consistent hockey and getting some fortuitous puck bounces through the 11 games played prior to Thursday's contest.

"We're out of the game pretty quickly," coach John Tortorella told the Dispatch. "We haven't been in very many of those games this year. We take our medicine (in Boston), regroup on Friday (an off day) and start again on Saturday."

Columbus has offensive firepower with center Alexander Wennberg, rookie defenseman Zach Werenski and left wingers Foligno and Brandon Saad all with double digits in points. The Blue Jackets have scored nine more goals than they've allowed this season.

Wennberg has a league-leading 13 assists in 12 games entering play on Friday. He also leads the team in points (14), with Foligno leading Columbus with five goals. Werenski has three goals and eight assists and Saad has four goals and six assists.

Among NHL rookies, Werenski is second in assists and third in points entering play on Friday.

Blues • The Blues will meet Columbus for the second time in eight days, following a 2-1 overtime victory over the Blue Jackets last Saturday in St. Louis. Vladimir Tarasenko had the OT winner ... The Blues are coming off a 3-1 loss to Nashville, continuing a stretch in which they’ve netted one goal or none eight times in their last 12 games ... The Blues are 2-4-1 on the road this season, and they have dropped three straight by a combined score of 14-3 ... Jake Allen is expected to be back in net Saturday for his 12th start in 16 games this season.

Blue Jackets • Columbus has played just two games since seeing the Blues, winning 3-2 over Anaheim in overtime Wednesday and falling 5-2 to Boston on Thursday. The Blue Jackets surrendered four goals to the Bruins in a span of 4 minutes, 1 second in the first period. ... Center Alexander Wennberg leads Columbus with 14 points, with an NHL-leading 13 assists ... After two losses at Nationwide Arena to start the season, the Blue Jackets have won four straight games on home ice going into Saturday’s game.

Injuries • Blues — D Robert Bortuzzo (lower body) and Joel Edmundson (upper body), out. Blue Jackets — C Brandon Dubinsky (lower body), questionable; D Seth Jones (fractured foot) and RW David Clarkson (lower body), out.

Blues team scope

St. Louis Blues second-year forward Robby Fabbri, who was a healthy scratch on Thursday against the Nashville Predators, will return to the lineup Saturday against the Columbus Blue Jackets. "It's a good feeling to be given the opportunity," Fabbri said. "Now it's my job to go out there and be make sure they made the right decision." He'll be inserted on a line with center Jori Lehtera and right wing Vladimir Tarasenko. "The chemistry we've got in some twosomes is good," coach Ken Hitchcock said Saturday. "Just like Columbus is, we're working hard to incorporate some young players into the mix here." Hitchcock said he wants to see more from Fabbri, who has a goal and three assists in 14 games after having 37 points (18 goals, 19 assists) last season. "When you're going to play up the lineup like he is, you're going to need to be a good player," Hitchcock said. "He needs to be thinking like, 'I'm a go-to guy so I've got to play like a go-to guy.' " Forward Ryan Reaves will come out of the lineup.

Blue Jackets team scope

Forward Brandon Dubinsky might provide the spark needed for the Blue Jackets to rebound from a 5-2 loss at the Boston Bruins on Thursday. He missed that game and a 3-2 overtime victory against the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday with a lower-body injury. Coach John Tortorella was not happy with either game, and thinks the return of Dubinsky can make a difference. "I missed him on the bench, I'll tell you right now," Tortorella said. "I don't think our compete was there through a lot of minutes. [Dubinsky] is always going to drag people into the fight and push them along, not so much by words but the way he plays." After finishing last season with 48 points (17 goals, 31 assists), Dubinsky has two assists in 10 games this season. "I've been around long enough to know you go through these types of situations where you're not scoring," Dubinsky said. "Frustration's something that tends to creep in sometimes but it just works against you. Once the puck goes in once or twice, hopefully it pours on. You just need something to go in. You need a bounce, or your linemates to put one in for you."

Blues projected lineup

Jaden Schwartz -- Patrik Berglund -- Alexander Steen
Robby Fabbri -- Jori Lehtera -- Vladimir Tarasenko
David Perron -- Paul Stastny -- Nail Yakupov
Scottie Upshall -- Kyle Brodziak -- Dmitrij Jaskin

Jay Bouwmeester -- Alex Pietrangelo
Carl Gunnarsson -- Kevin Shattenkirk
Petteri Lindbohm -- Colton Parayko

Jake Allen
Carter Hutton

Scratched: Ryan Reaves
Injured: Robert Bortuzzo (lower body), Joel Edmundson (upper body)

Blue Jackets projected lineup

Brandon Saad -- Alexander Wennberg -- Nick Foligno
Boone Jenner - Brandon Dubinsky -- Cam Atkinson
Matt Calvert -- William Karlsson -- Josh Anderson
Scott Hartnell -- Lukas Sedlak -- Sam Gagner

Zach Werenski -- David Savard
Ryan Murray -- Jack Johnson
Markus Nutivaara -- Dalton Prout

Sergei Bobrovsky
Curtis McElhinney

Scratched: Scott Harrington
Injured: David Clarkson (back), Seth Jones (foot)

Status report

Steen is one goal shy of 200 in his NHL career. … Harrington has not played this season.

Who's hot

Tarasenko has points in four consecutive games and leads the Blues with 13 points (five goals, eight assists). Schwartz has two goals and an assist in three games. … Foligno has four goals and four assists in the past six games. Wennberg is tied with Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers for the NHL lead in assists with 13.

This Day in History
1972 Wayne Stephenson blanks Leafs to earn his 1st NHL shutout and get Jean Talbot is 1st NHL win.
1983 Gretzky scores 20th NHL hat trick.
1988 Esa Tikkanen sets NHL record for fastest two short-handed goals.
1989 Blues beat Penguins to extend unbeaten streak to 8 games with Greg Millen's 200th win.
1989 Blues hang banner in honor of late, Great Dan Kelly.
1995 Geoff Courtnall scored his 5th NHL hat trick in 4-1 win over Islanders.

[cardsfan04]

All I ask is that we score more than 1 goal tonight. 2 is fine (OK, not really, but it's a start). 3 is great. A win would be tremendous. But light the damn lamp.

[Robb_K]

Good save by Allen!

The Blues need to score 1st, and often (get the 1st 2 or 3). Let's hope they can do that, to take the pressure off, and stop them from "squeezing their sticks too hard".

Just as I type this, The Jackets score! Bah!

[Robb_K]

Blues on the PP. They need to score!

[Robb_K]

Shattenkirk ties it up on a nice feed from Tarasenko on the pp!!!

But, just as I type this, The Jackets score again!!

They don't give us much time to enjoy scores. Allen taken out.

[Robb_K]

Lindbohm has looked very good so far. Not just with big hits, but he's making good defensive reads, one of his weaknesses in his last 2 stretches in The NHL.

If he pulls his game together, that will help a lot to solidify The Blues' defence.

Just as I type this, The Jackets score again. Blues trail 1-3, playing very shaky defence.

[Krigloch the Furious]

Turn the game on late and it's 1-3
*sigh*
These guys blow

Sent from my R2 unit

[Robb_K]

Nice drive to the net by Schwartz. They should have called tripping on The Jackets, that kept him from scoring . He was well ahead of his 2 pursuers.

[Robb_K]

Very depressing. But, at least The Blues found out they ARE capable of scoring. The big lead by The Jackets allowed them to relax, and stop squeezing their sticks. They figured they were out of the game, so they could just relax and play the game.

So, maybe they'll be able to just shoot at the net, drive more, and storm the net more, with 2 or 3 players, and be able to win games more than just 1-0 or 2-1.

I hope that's what happens. But, they still need to add scoring skill up front.

[theohall]

They need to dump this entire coaching staff.

[cardsfan04]

Very depressing. But, at least The Blues found out they ARE capable of scoring. The big lead by The Jackets allowed them to relax, and stop squeezing their sticks. They figured they were out of the game, so they could just relax and play the game.

So, maybe they'll be able to just shoot at the net, drive more, and storm the net more, with 2 or 3 players, and be able to win games more than just 1-0 or 2-1.

I hope that's what happens. But, they still need to add scoring skill up front.

If there is a silver lining from this game, this is it. This team needs to figure it out soon though or this will be a long season. I said a week or two ago that some growing pains to start the year shouldn't be a huge surprise. We're 20% of the way through the season now. Time to figure it out.

[glen a richter]

This is not a playoff team and it's not because of Elliott being gone, dude couldn't possibly save this team from its coaching staff.

[Oaklandblue]

Here's the truth and I'm going to be upfront about it:

We will make the playoffs, if barely, due to being able to beat the teams others can beat. Statistically, it should work out in our favor. It won't be pretty, but we'll make it. If we do NOT make the playoffs, then Yeo takes over, so enjoy the next few years working out, well, just like this. No one's firing Army and no one's firing Hitch and that's all that can be said about it.

This team is not out hunting for a Cup. It's completely comfortable in it's complacency.

[gaijin]

Here's a telling stat:

The Blues have just 20 even-strength goals in 16 games, just over one per game, which puts them 26th in the league.

We're quickly approaching the 1/4 mark of the season, and the early results are less than impressive. I'll be the first to admit that last season I was saying the team didn't have as much talent as previous years and I didn't see much hope, then we went on to the Conference Finals. So there's still time to right the ship and have a good season.

That said, I'm currently torn between what I want to happen- this team turn things around and succeed as-is, or continue to suck and force a coaching change. If that were to happen, it's better to do it sooner rather than later when there's less time to adapt.

[Oaklandblue]

This is not a playoff team and it's not because of Elliott being gone, dude couldn't possibly save this team from its coaching staff.

This is a playoff team, mismanaged into oblivion. Kind of how the Oilers were until they got a GM/Coach with their head out their A$$. But that won't happen here til Stillman realizes it, and I don't think he will.

[theohall]

The problem now is the coaching change won't change anything, unless the Blues fire all of them, including Yeo. All they will likely do is fire Hitchcock and promote Yeo. Why won't it change anything? Just look at Yeo's offenses with the Wild. It's already improved with him gone to the point they have more even strength goals/gm this season than they ever had under Yeo.

Goals For Rankings
2011-12 Wild - 31st (last) 177 Total 138 Even Strength 1.68 Even Strength G/GM
2012-13 Wild - 25th 122 Total 95 Even Strength 1.98 Even Strength G/GM
2013-14 Wild - 24th 207 Total 162 Even Strength 1.98 Even Strength G/GM
2014-15 Wild - 14th 231 Total 192 Even Strength 2.34 Even Strength G/GM
2015-16 Wild under Yeo (55 Games) - 135 Total 106 Even Strength 1.93 G/GM

There is such a thing as too much loyalty. Rick Wilson was part of Yeo's staff in Minnesota. Rick Wilson was part of Hitchcock's staff in Dallas where Armstrong was GM. See the simple loyalty connection which results in the Blues bringing in both Wilson and Yeo? It's certainly not based on any success Yeo had with the Wild, although some might believe the 2014-15 playoffs were the reason.

There is a reason Yeo was fired. It was his inability to get his team to actually score goals. Sound familiar??

The Blues over the same span:

2011-12 Blues - 23rd 210 Total 165 Even Strength 2.01 Even Strength G/GM
2012-13 Blues - 15th 129 Total 100 Even Strength 2.08 Even Strength G/GM
2013-14 Blues - 7th Total 248 Even Strength 2.34 Even Strength G/GM
2014-15 Blues - 5th Total 248 Even Strength 2.34 Even Strength G/GM
2015-16 Blues (1st 55 Games) - 135 Total 104 Even Strength 1.93 G/GM

This season Goals For
Wild 14th 41 Total 35 Even Strength 2.5 Even Strength G/GM
Blues 26th 37 Total 25 Even Strength 1.56 Even Strength G/GM

Yes, loyalty hires have driven the Blues offense to where Mike Yeo coached teams take offense. Why should anyone be surprised? No fan I can name liked this hire when it was announced. No pundit I can name liked this hire when it was announced, especially the "coach in waiting" nonsense. Armstrong built this coaching mess and now we fans get to suffer watching it blow up in his face.

I hope things improve because as a fan I want the Blues to win. Unfortunately, I don't believe that will happen until the management actually has the balls to bring in an offensive minded staff to take advantage of the speed and skill the Blues have available at the forward positions.

It is very possible the Blues miss the playoffs if the offense doesn't improve. The Blues currently sit in 4th in the division. That could easily change to a worse position when/if Dallas gets healthy. Anaheim and LA should improve over their current records. So if those three things happen and the Blues don't get better offensively, they will be out of the playoffs. Hell, Nashville has 2 games in hand right now. Saturday the Predators could pass the Blues in the standings in the head-to-head matchup depending on what happens this week.

Blues - Buffalo, San Jose. Should beat Buffalo, but don't see them beating San Jose
Nashville - Toronto, Ottawa - two very possible wins for the Predators.

We'll see what happens, but the Blues need to realize they are playing for playoff position right now.

[gaijin]

The question is, are Hitch and Yeo a single inseparable unit from a coaching perspective? Meaning, if the higher-ups want to fire the coach, can they fire Hitch alone, or do they have to fire both Hitch and Yeo? I would think you have to keep or fire them together.

When Yeo was hired on to be the coach-in-waiting for next year, this was to be cooperative effort between the two. With their combined expertise, they developed a gameplan on how the team was going to play- the system created and backed by both coaches. Presumably, when Hitch retires this year, Yeo just carries on with the system that he helped create.

So if you want to make a coaching change, firing Hitch and promoting Yeo to the head job does no good. Yeo will basically run the same system because it's his system. This is no change.

You can't fire Hitch and hire a different head coach while keeping Yeo as the assistant coach- Yeo is already predetermined to be head coach next year.

You have to keep them both or fire them both. Do I think that will happen? Not a chance.

[Toasted Oates]

Today Hitch said they had the best practice they've had in a long time. So this is obviously much ado about nothing.

In all seriousness, I was willing to give Yeo the benefit of the doubt upon his hiring. There was a lot of skepticism from most of you, and you've been on the money up to this point.

I can patiently wait for Ken to retire. There were no delusions of a '17 Stanley Cup anyway. The question is how long the leash is for Armstrong, because if they miss the playoffs or bow out early again, it's at his feet. We've seen Backes, Brouwer, and potentially Shatty walk for nothing in short order.

[glen a richter]

I hope they miss the playoffs because sometimes it's only through an embarrassing defeat that problems obvious to everyone else become obvious to your organization and you can fix it and come roaring back. I could post the same thing over in the OT forum and it would be equally relevant. At some point you just have to lose to win.

[Toasted Oates]

I hope they miss the playoffs because sometimes it's only through an embarrassing defeat that problems obvious to everyone else become obvious to your organization and you can fix it and come roaring back. I could post the same thing over in the OT forum and it would be equally relevant. At some point you just have to lose to win.

There's a part of me that can't bear this due to dark days of the late aughts, missing the playoffs something like 5 out of 6 years. But at some point you have to start raising expectations, so I understand the logic.

KH/DA (especially DA) have been cut so much slack and it's the players that have been churned in and out. Have to cut out the constant at some point and if missing the playoffs precipitates that.....so be it.