GameBlog 1-15-11: St. Louis Blues @ San Jose Sharks
A solid 3-1 win Thursday over the LA Kings righted the ship for one day. On Saturday, the St. Louis Blues go back to work for the final game of three in four days. The San Jose Sharks are the final California opponent on the trip. Will a tangible on ice response to the Thornton/Perron hit be in the gameplan?
When Last They Met
Saturday, December 18th, 2010 – Sharks Win 4-1.
In the first meeting between the two clubs since the blindside hit put on David Perron by Joe Thornton the Blues needed to respond. No retaliatory cheap shot on the Sharks captain was needed, but a big (clean) hit from David Backes, BJ Crombeen or Brad Winchester was in order. As Kelly Chase argued, to show the still concussed Perron that the healthy guys have his back. Though Backes hit about every other white and teal sweater of consequence, the big one on #19 never came.
Current Calder Trophy candidate Logan Couture lead the way or the Sharks with a pair of goals. Backes scored the lone Blues tally on a penalty shot. Jaroslav Halak stopped 30 of 34 and Antero Niittymaki stopped 20 of 21.
The season series is even at one win a piece. Since the lockout the Blues are 7-13-3 against the Sharks.
Starting A New Streak
With the third five game skid in the review mirror the Blues look to cultivate their rediscovered confidence in to a prolonged winning streak. Something they’ve been unable to do. Following the first streak the Blues rolled off three not so convincing wins before losing the second set of five. That streak was followed by a pair of victories before dropping four of the next five.
Sitting in 9th place in the West, the Blues are just 3 points behind 8th place Chicago and five behind 4th place Phoenix. Rolling off a set of four of five not only keeps pace with those above, but with a little luck could push them back above the magic line.
The Sharks would love to start a new streak as well. A win would end their current six game losing streak and leapfrog the Blues. Just one point separates them.
A Hot 10
A select few have been powering the Blues offense over the last 10 games.
Backes: 7 goals, 11 points, Plus-8
D’Agostini: 3 goals, 10 points, Plus-8
Steen: 4 goals, 9 points, Plus-1
Boyes: 3 goals, 9 points, Plus-7
The Blues would surely like to see Patrik Berglund on that list. His inconsistent ways regarding effort prohibit his inclusion. With just 2 goals, 4 points and a Minus player in five of his last ten, he needs to get going. Bergie looked to be coming around against LA, but his game tapered off as the game progressed.
Gameday Notes
Jeremy Rutherford tweeted that Crombeen, Winchester and Can Janssen all missed the morning skate with the flu.
From Blues Play-By-Play voice on KMOX, Chris Kerber, TJ Oshie made a few California girls day.
As reported earlier this week, Ian Cole was recalled and the expectation is that he will play.
Injury Report
Blues defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo (facial cut) was hit with a puck in the Anaheim game, returned to St. Louis and is listed as day-to-day. Andy McDonald & Perron are both still out with concussions. Oshie is getting closer to return, but is still out while rehabbing his ankle.
The Sharks hope Couture will be ready for a Saturday night return. Forward Torrey Mitchell was placed on IR after re-aggravating a groin injury. US Olympian Joe Pavelski returned Thursday. He missed an eight-game stretch. Ryane Clowe will miss this game as well.
Sharks Scouting Report
Record: 21-19-5, 47 Points – 4th in Pacific Division | 12th in Western Conference
Goals For/Game: 2.69, 17th
Goals Against/Game: 2.80, 17th
Power Play: 22.2%, 5th
Penalty Kill: 81.8%, 18th
Leading Scorer: Center, Thornton – 11 goals, 39 points in 43 games.
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Even while slumping, the Sharks are an extremely dangerous offensive team. Their lineup boasts multiple 30 goal scorers and currently has five with 11 or more goals. If not for Pavelski’s missed time he would be over that mark as well. The big body presence of their forwards also presents major problems for the Blues. Who struggle at times to box out physically powerful attackers.
The counter for St. Louis will be to exploit the Sharks defense. While far from the weakest set of six in the West, they’re not as strong as they were in the previous few seasons. The Rob Blake effect perhaps? Either way, getting pucks deep consistently is key. All it takes is a one quick pass to the electric forwards off a turnover to end up hemmed in the defensive zone.
If the Blues can play a clean game where they make quick changes, get pucks below the red line and stray away from bad penalties the game can be theirs.
According to reports it appears Andrew Desjardins is heading back to the Sharks AHL affiliate and John McCarthy is out to allow 7 defensemen to dress. Lineup looks like:
Logan Couture – Joe Thornton – Dany Healtley
Patrick Marleau – Joe Pavelski – Devin Setoguchi
Benn Ferriero – Scott Nichol – Brandon Mashinter
Jamie McGinn & Jamal Mayers
Douglas Murray – Dan Boyle
Niclas Wallin – Jason Demers
Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Kent Huskins
Justin Braun or Derek Joslin will be the 7th defenseman
(stick tap to @OhMySwed3 for lineup help)
Antti Niemi is the expected starter for the Sharks. In one start against the Blues this season Niemi lost 2-0. He allowed just 2 goals on 29 shots.
- Suggested further reading on the Sharks comes from RLDHockey.net: Saturday Faceoff: What’s next in San Jose? and FearTheFin.com‘s Gameday Blog.
Blues Lineup
There has yet to be a public update on the status of the flu stricken forwards. Assuming they are able to dress, here is the expected lineup.
Vladimir Sobotka – David Backes – Matt D’Agostini
Alex Steen – Patrik Berglund – BJ Crombeen
Brad Winchester – Jay McClement – Brad Boyes
Chris Porter – Phil McRae – Ryan Reaves
Eric Brewer – Erik Johnson
Barret Jackman – Roman Polak
Ian Cole – Alex Pietrangelo.
Jaroslav Halak is the expected starter in net.
Davis Payne will be looking to match up Backes and McClement with the Jackman-Polak pairing against Thornton as often as possible. Brewer and Johnson will draw that assignment a few times as well. Will be interesting to see what Pavelski can do in his first game back if too much focus is put on the “big 3″ of Dany Healey, Patrick Marleau and Thornton. It would also be a mistake to forget about Dan Boyle sneaking in from the point as well.
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