GDT #20: Blues vs Kings | 8:30 pm CT | NBCSN, 101 ESPN

[theohall]

Los Angeles Kings (8-6-3, fourth in the West Division) vs. St. Louis Blues (10-7-2, second in the West Division)

St. Louis; Wednesday, 9:30 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: The St. Louis Blues host Los Angeles after Dustin Brown scored two goals in the Kings' 3-0 victory against the Blues.

The Blues are 10-7-2 against opponents from the West Division. St. Louis ranks fifth in the Nhl with 30.6 shots per game and is averaging 3.0 goals.

The Kings are 8-6-3 against West Division opponents. Los Angeles has allowed nine power-play goals, killing 83.3% of opponent chances.

The teams meet for the second game in a row.

TOP PERFORMERS: Justin Faulk leads the Blues with a plus-16 in 19 games this season. Mike Hoffman has five goals and five assists over the last 10 games for St. Louis.

Brown leads the Kings with 10 goals and has 16 points. Alex Iafallo has four goals and four assists over the last 10 games for Los Angeles.

LAST 10 GAMES: Blues: 4-5-1, averaging 2.7 goals, five assists, 3.2 penalties and seven penalty minutes while giving up 2.6 goals per game with a .906 save percentage.

Kings: 5-4-1, averaging 3.1 goals, 5.2 assists, three penalties and 6.6 penalty minutes while allowing 2.5 goals per game with a .921 save percentage.

INJURIES: Blues: Colton Parayko: day to day (undisclosed), Carl Gunnarsson: day to day (lower body) out for season, Jaden Schwartz: day to day (lower body), Robert Thomas: out (thumb)Tarasenko (out), Barbashev (out), Bozak (out).

Kings: Jaret Anderson-Dolan: out (upper body).

[gaijin]

Blues 4-5-1 in their last 10. That's not going to be good enough to hang with the Colorados and Vegases (Vegii?) of the West. Vegas is already ahead in the standings, while playing three fewer games. And we already know how tough Arizona is to play against.

Hope these injured players heal fast.

[ibldbl]

Looking like a loss. I mean, a good 1/3 of our team is out on IR. Hoping for a win.

Kings - 4
Blues - 1

[theohall]

In what I consider shocking news, JK and Panger will call the game for NBCSN tonight.

[Robb_K]

I'm glad to see Mikkola in for Gunnarsson. But The Blues were stopped by The kings in The Neutral Zone again, on almost every time up ice, when The Blues finally got possession of the puck in The O-Zone (which wasn't often), they were smothered, with no room to operate, at all for much of the time. The Blues did have a few good offensive bursts, when they were tenacious on the forecheck, and cycled well, but their shots came from too far out, they didn't get good screens, and no teammates were skating in on net to form screens and jump on rebounds. Overall, it was disappointing.

[Portland Blues]

Kings score.

[Robb_K]

Krug just backed up but didn't do anything to hamper Iofallo. He didn't get his body in front of Iofallo's stick, didn't push into the stick or try to lift it. He just skated backwards watching. There's no excuse for that no matter how small and light you are. Even a potential holding call there is better than giving up a good scoring chance.

[Portland Blues]

It seems a curse of sorts has settled in.

[Portland Blues]

Holy crap! We scored against LA.

[Robb_K]

Sundqvist scores!!!! Blues cut the lead to 1!!!!

[Portland Blues]

[theohall]

That is a frustrating loss. The Blues played the right way most of the game, just couldn't beat Cal Peterson - AGAIN.... What is it with the Blues and backup goalies not named Subban? This has been going on for ages where the Blues make backups look like super stars.

[gaijin]

7 goals in the last 5 games, and 4 of those were in the 2nd period comeback against the Sharks (which the Blues ultimately lost anyway). Without that game, the Blues have scored only 3 goals in the last 4 games.

Sounds like Tank is on the verge of returning, and not a moment too soon. I hope he's the 2019 Tarasenko and not the 2020 Tarasenko.

[theohall]

They need Thomas and Bozak back... Missing centers sucks. Whose gonna feed Tank. ROR/Tank didn't work before. Schenn/Tank did... so hopefully that will comeback - but who is the LW doing the grinding Schwartz would normally do? Blais?? IDK.

[gaijin]

All the injuries are making me wonder- does a shortened season like this create an incentive for players to hit to injure?

You could make the argument that the impact of suspensions is correspondingly higher as well (the same length suspension ends up being a greater percentage of the season this year) and therefore it balances out. But let's say you target a player's head. Sure, you get suspended for 5 or even 10 games, but there's no way that other player returns this season at all.

That's a dirty thought process AF, but I guarantee it's crossed someone's mind.