TEAM SNAPSHOTS
BLUES The St. Louis Blues are looking to rebound in front of their home crowd on Thursday before setting off on a three-game road trip. Falling 4-1 to the Dallas Stars on Monday, Robert Thomas absence was felt in the difficulty they faced capitalizing on scoring chances.
With Thomas participating in practice on Tuesday and Wednesday, his return may come when the Blues take on the Carolina Hurricanes at Enterprise Center.
"I think we need to (put more shots on net). You don't get too many 'grade-A' (scoring chances) in this League, and anytime we get those chances we could fire the puck a little bit more," said Brandon Saad.
The Blues were on their second day off from game action Wednesday, the first two-day break since getting three from Nov. 4-6. In the weeks since, they played 13 games in 22 nights - no other NHL team played more than 11. Holding their own to an 8-5-0 record in that span, the Blues hope that a lighter schedule load as the calendar flips to December can help them keep this pace and climb up the standings.
They'll enter Thursday's game with a record of 11-11-0, worth 22 points and sixth place in the Central Division.
HURRICANES After winning a competitive Metropolitan Division but falling in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs last year, the Carolina Hurricanes are once again setting out to be a top contender in the League.
Boasting one of the League's top defenses a year ago, Carolina added veteran Brent Burns to their blue line this offseason to help offset Tony DeAngelo's departure for Philadelphia. The Hurricanes allowed the fewest goals out of any NHL team last year, earning goaltenders Frederik Andersen - currently on injured reserve - and Antti Raanta the Jennings Trophy.
The 'Canes are looking to keep bouncing back from a five-game losing streak just prior to Thanksgiving, four of which came in overtime. Since then, they have won two in a row - including another overtime battle with Pittsburgh on Tuesday. Carolina's seven extra-time decisions share the League lead.
Led in scoring by a trio of young forwards - Martin Necas, Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov - the Hurricanes are now 12-6-5, worth 29 points and third place in the Metropolitan Division as of Wednesday afternoon.
HEAD-TO-HEAD The Hurricanes proved a tough matchup for the Blues a season ago as Carolina won both matchups. Over the last four home matchups, however, the Blues are 3-1-0 against Carolina.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
BLUES Justin Faulk, who spent eight years in Carolina before coming to St. Louis ahead of the 2019-20 season. Faulk has 15 points in 22 games this season, on pace for a career high (currently 49 points in 2014-15).
HURRICANES Andrei Svechnikov, who leads the Hurricanes with 14 goals in 23 games this season. The 22-year-old forward has six points in his last five games and recorded four points across two games against the Blues last year.
BLUE NOTES
Thursday's game marks the annual Hockey Fights Cancer Night - presented by Siteman Cancer Center. The night honors all who have been affected by cancer... The Blues are 4-1-0 in their last five games at Enterprise Center... Robert Thomas shares No. 2 in the NHL with six power-play assists this season, and shares No. 2 with 10 total assists since Nov. 10... Jordan Binnington's next win will be his 100th. He will become the sixth goaltender in franchise history to reach the mark.
The Carolina Hurricanes will try to continue their recent resurgence when they visit the sputtering St. Louis Blues on Thursday.
The Hurricanes have won their last two contests on the heels of a five-game winless streak (0-1-4). They are catching the Blues in the midst of a 1-3-0 stretch.
Carolina posted a 3-2 victory in overtime against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday to start a six-game road trip. The Hurricanes, who are 7-3-4 on the road this season, had to overcome Jake Guentzel's tying goal with 58 seconds remaining in the third period.
"That's a huge win," said Hurricanes defenseman Brett Pesce, who scored in overtime. "It's a division rival and when you look at the standings, it's early in the year, but they're right next to us.
"We faced a little adversity when they scored with a minute left. That kind of hurt, but we had the resiliency to get the extra point."
Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour liked his team's performance against Sidney Crosby and company.
"I thought we played well the whole game," Brind'Amour said. "Yeah, they put a little push on in the third and we had a little mess up on the six-on-five -- we should've kept the pressure on -- and they kind of just floated one in. I like the game overall and the two points is what we needed."
The Blues have been outscored 15-5 in their last three losses. One of their problems has been their inability to transition smoothly from defense to offense.
"We could definitely be a little bit cleaner on execution," Blues defenseman Robert Bortuzzo said. "That's something we preach here. Coming out of our end has been kind of the bread and butter of this team for a while. That's something that should be addressed, and just something we need to clean up."
Blues defensemen and forwards have struggled to get into sync with their breakouts. That weakness could be problematic against the Hurricanes, one of the NHL tighter-checking teams, on Thursday.
"We could definitely do a better job of managing the puck," Blues forward Brandon Saad said. "It's tough. Our execution's kind of been poor. I don't know if it's the amount of games or nervousness. But unfortunately we're getting hemmed in a little bit too much. We had some offensive zone shifts where we played pretty well. At the end of the day we gotta keep it out of our net."
Carolina forward Teuvo Teravainen (upper-body injury) is questionable to play Thursday. Forward Max Pacioretty (Achilles tendon tear) and goaltender Frederik Andersen (lower-body injury) are traveling with the team but not as close to returning.
The Blues could see the return of center Robert Thomas (lower-body injury) for this game. He was centering a line with Pavel Buchnevich and Vladimir Tarasenko at practice on Wednesday.
"What happened to (Thomas), it could've been more serious," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "I think we dodged a bullet."
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They can't hang with the big boys. Beating the Ducks twice, the Sharks, the Blackhawks, a shorthanded Colorado team, none of that is particularly impressive. I'll grant the comeback against Florida was nice but they shouldn't need to claw all the way back from that kind of deficit, and as for the Washington game, never should have gone to OT in the first place. They let up and let them right back into a game they had firmly in control.
When the opponent is strong and healthy this team disappears like a fart in a fan factory. Holding onto the pending UFA's would be madness, unless there's some dramatic change in player attitude this team will either miss the playoffs or get crushed in the first round.
Carolina is a better team than the Blues, simple as that. Chalk up a loss unless the Canes decide to play down to the opponent.
Glen nailed it at this point. Pending UFAs need to be sold. Unfortunately, selling guys like Tarasenko and ROR still require cap space which most playoff teams looking for help won't have until closer to the trade deadline.
Whether we like it or not, the players are forcing the Blues into a middling kind of rebuild - which isn't the best way to rebuild.
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I was driving home from work right about when the second goal was scored and said to myself I bet if I just ignore the game then by the time I get back it'll be 2-1, 2-2. Few minutes later I check the score because I can't help myself and it's franking 3-2 for crissake. This team has a lot of problems but one of the biggest ones is between their damn ears.
The Athletic did a piece using the Stars game discussing if the Blues are passing up shooting opportunities. Short answer - mostly. Drop passes are killing them when they are making a second drop pass to a 3rd player after the 1st player dropped the puck to the 2nd and drove the net taking defenders with them. Instead of shooting or trying the pass off boards the area below the goalline just to the side of the net - they are forcing passes where backcheckers have caught up to the guy they are passing. They are also telegraphing where they are usually going to go and it's almost always pass before shot. One exception is Leivo, who after being benched, now has 14 shots in 3 games.
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See if this sounds familiar - it's from an Athletic article by Rutherford from today:
The Blues’ three-goal third period and eventual 5-4 overtime win in Florida on Nov. 26 was remarkable.
Full marks, for sure.
But instead of that carrying over against Dallas and Carolina, that third period looks like an outlier. Without it, they’d be on a five-game losing streak, and with several upcoming opponents currently holding playoff spots, matching or surpassing their eight-game losing streak earlier in the season might have been a real reality.The Blues may see it differently, as center Robert Thomas did late Thursday night.
“Dallas and Carolina are two pretty good teams, and I felt like we were in it both times,” Thomas said. “It came right down to the wire, and sometimes it goes against you.”
True, but it’s going against them too often, and for many of the same reasons.
Yes, they did win seven straight last month, but five of the seven wins in that streak were against opponents in the bottom 11 of the league standings — four of the opponents were in the bottom six.
Against a playoff-caliber team like Dallas, the Blues managed just five shots on goal in the third period of a game that was 1-0 and 2-1 late.
Coming up, the Blues are playing a bunch of "current" playoff teams in the 14 games over the next 29 days of December.
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