GDT #66: Blues vs Kings | 6:30 pm CT | TNT/Max, 101 ESPN

[theohall]

BLUES After an ugly three games in the Tri-State area, the Blues shipped up to Boston for one last matchup with the Bruins before returning to Enterprise Center. St. Louis had been reeling, but you'd never know it from Monday's box score.

The Blues had been struggling to create offense, especially at even strength, and that culminated in a 4-0 rout by the New York Rangers. St. Louis hadn't scored three or more 5-on-5 goals in 11 straight games dating back to Feb. 15. Head Coach Drew Bannister knew he needed to make some big adjustments in Boston, and that's what he did.

One notable change Bannister made was to his third forward line, putting Brandon Saad with Kevin Hayes and Kasperi Kapanen. Each member had at least two points Monday, with Kapanen (one goal, two assists) leading the charge.

“Really happy for Hayes, Kapanen and Saad," Bannister said postgame. "I thought they were outstanding tonight. It’s a real good sign for us that they’re able to come out and play as well as they did and be able to score in that game.”

Bannister also switched up the defensive pairings, reintroducing Matthew Kessel to the lineup after spending time with the Springfield Thunderbirds. Five of the Blues' six defensemen - including Kessel - found their way onto the scoresheet while also protecting Joel Hofer, who saved 36 of 37 shots.

“From our goaltending out to our forwards, we didn’t have any passengers," Bannister said. "Everybody played well here tonight. Joel had to make some big saves for us; he played outstanding. Our penalty kill was outstanding here tonight and our power play was able to score. In all aspects of the game, guys were contributing.”

The Blues are hoping to bring their upward momentum back home.

"Obviously we'd like to have a couple more wins on the road trip," Hofer said, "but this is a big win for our club. It's obviously a good team (in Boston). Hopefully we can keep this going at home."

On Wednesday, the Blues will be wearing their 1990s throwback uniforms for the only time this season. The Kings will also be wearing kits similar to theirs from the '90s (save for the chrome helmets).

KINGS The Los Angeles Kings just finished a five-game homestand, going 3-1-1. Now LA hits the road for three games starting in St. Louis.

Last time out, the Kings shut out the New York Islanders 3-0 on Monday, breaking the Isles' six-game win streak. For both teams, defense was the name of the game. Things were scoreless until Adrian Kempe finally scored midway through the game. Trevor Moore would help put the game away in the third, however, assisting on a Philip Danault goal before scoring the empty-net goal with less than three minutes left.

The Kings penalty kill was tested five separate times, but they held New York scoreless on each. While Kings coach Jim Hiller praised the effort, he emphasized the need to not take so many penalties.

“It really grinds you down. You take that many — those are guys that play big minutes at five-on-five and everything else — and that was a big part of why we didn’t have a lot of gas left for our push late in the third.”

LA goalie David Rittich also stopped all 26 Islanders shots, giving him his second shutout of the season.

“We knew we didn't have the best night (Saturday night in a 4-1 loss to the Dallas Stars), so we knew what we had to do,” Rittich said. “We came out really strong. I think overall we did do a great job defensively. Playing against the Islanders, who are well-known for playing good defense, it's good we showed up that way, too.”

After a hot start to the season, the Kings (33-20-11) have been an up-and-down team. They're 5-4-1 in their last 10 games, and they sit as the third seed in the Pacific Division, edging out Vegas by two points.

HEAD TO HEAD This is the final matchup between the Blues and Kings this season. In the most recent meeting, the Blues won 4-3 in overtime at Enterprise Center on Jan. 28.

PLAYERS TO WATCH
BLUES Robert Thomas scored the Blues' lone power-play goal in Boston, ending a personal five-game goalless drought. Thomas has 70 points with a +8 rating in 65 games this season. He's just one point shy of his 300th career point.

KINGS Kevin Fiala, the Kings' leading scorer, has plenty of experience at Enterprise Center. The former Nashville and Minnesota forward has eight goals and 14 assists in 28 career games against the Blues.

BLUE NOTES
The Blues are 3-1-0 in their last four home games against the Kings.

The Blues will start a four-game homestand on Wednesday vs. Los Angeles and will play eight of their next 10 games at Enterprise Center. The only road games in that span are March 21 (Ottawa) and March 23 (Minnesota).

After a rough start, recent call-up Zach Dean had found his stride with the Springfield Thunderbirds. Prior to being recalled, Dean had nine points in his last 12 games. For the year, Dean has recorded 13 points in 47 games in his first professional season. In the four years prior, Dean had 188 points (82 goals, 106 assists) with the Gatineau Olympiques of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Dean's first game as a Blue, whenever that comes, will also be his NHL debut.

Kevin Hayes will play in his 700th career game Wednesday, while Pavel Buchnevich will play in his 200th game as a Blue.

[theohall]

Kopitar got away with clearly holding Parayko's stick, which would allowed an easy clear, instead of a Kings goal, which the entire TNT crew ignored.

Also, when a Kings player kicked Binnington's stick, should've been interference on the Kings the same as they called on Leddy in the first Blues Kings game.

[theohall]

This is fun.... Thanks Kevin Woodley...

As much as mediots love to use advanced analytics, especially Goals Saved Above Expected when it comes to goalies and having Vezina conversations, guess who is number one in GSAE.

Yep, Jordan Binnington.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">New leader atop <a href="https://twitter.com/csahockey?ref_src=t ... ahockey</a> goals saved above expected; welcome to Vezina conversation Jordan Binnington (+ couple other in top-10):<br><br>Binnington 25.36<br>Markstrom 24.25<br>Hellebuyck 20.31<br>Demko 17.18<br>Shesterkin 14.23<br>UPL 12.70<br>Sorokin 11.69<br>Swayman 11.50<br>Stolarz 11.23<br>Ullmark 10.67</p>&mdash; Kevin Woodley (@KevinisInGoal) <a href=" 14, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

He's flipping 11 points ahead of Shesterkin in THE stat that the analytics crowd crows about for goalies.