It's playoff time, expect a scrum after almost every whistle.

After the Canucks and the Sharks had both won their respective games, the western conference was finally pegged down. The Canucks claimed the West and the President’s trophy. The Blues finished second, set to face off against the San Jose Sharks in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Looking at the rosters of each club, you can judge who’d better for yourself.

Jaroslav Halak/Brian Elliott vs Antti Niemi/Thomas Griess

There should be no question whatsoever in this case. You have the best statistical goaltender in the NHL in Brian Elliott and while Niemi has a cup, most would prefer Jaroslav Halak in net over the Finnish Niemi.

Halak and Elliott will share the William Jennings trophy for fewest goals allowed in the NHL. San Jose finished eighth in goals against, letting in fifty more goals overall than the Blues.

Offense Isn’t Lacking On Defense

When looking on the defensive side of the puck, both teams aren’t lacking offensively.

Dan Boyle lead the San Jose Sharks offense from the defense this year, scoring nine goals, 39 assists for 48 points on the year. He’s followed by Brent Burns’ 37 points (11 goals, 26 assists). Burns, however, adds a solid defensive game and grit on the blueline as well.

The Blues counter offensively with Alex Pietrangelo’s 51 points (12 goals, 39 assists) and Kevin Shattenkirk’s 43 points (9 goals, 34 assists). Pietrangelo, however, has been playing at a Norris caliber level all season long for the Blues, something the Sharks haven’t had.

Then you have the supporting cast behind the “big two” for each club.

For San Jose, it’s the likes of Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Douglas Murray, Justin Braun, Colin White, Jason Demers, and Jim Vandermeer.

While the Blues have guys like Barret Jackman, Roman Polak, Kent Huskins, Carlo Colaiacovo, Kris Russell, and Ian Cole.

Obviously, you have to give the experience to the Sharks group, but overall, it’s fairly close and hard to really pick one side. We’ll call it a wash as I honestly can’t make a decision.

Depth The Story Offensively

While the Sharks probably have more well known names in Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, and Joe Pavelski, they cannot say they have the depth like the St. Louis Blues do. The Sharks bottom six guys compared to the Blues bottom six just don’t add up.

When you have guys like Alex Steen, Jason Arnott, and even the struggling Chris Stewart playing third line minutes compared to Michal Handzus, Dominic Moore, and Andrew Desjardins, you’re going to have an edge offensively.

After the top nine, the Blues hold depth over the Sharks with the fourth line along with their scratches as well. The Sharks have Dan Winnik’s 23 points as top among their fourth liners, while the Blues have a guy who notched 20 goals last season in Matt D’Agostini and Jamie Langenbrunner’s 24 points as well.

The Blues are also holding a top prospect ready to play in Jaden Schwartz as well, very much like the Sharks did a few seasons ago with Logan Couture.

In terms of toughness, Ryan Reaves is by far the toughest player on either club’s roster, and given his ability to play a effective checking line role, he’s a valuable asset to the Blues here.

Heated History

We must also remember that these two organizations aren’t the biggest fans of one another. From the most recent Joe Thornton incident of Joe Thonrton concussing David Perron with a blindside hit, to the upset in 2000, games between these two are usually up tempo, hard hitting, grinding games, which favors the Blues more defensive system than the Sharks more offensive system.

Fighting usually isn’t common in the post season. The big, hard hits, the board battles usually tell the stories in playoff hockey, and that should give the Blues the advantage, like it has in the season series against these clubs, in which the Blues went 4-0 against them this season.

Leading The Ship

Another advantage the Blues have over the Sharks is leadership where it matters, the coaches. While Todd McLellan is a very good coach, he doesn’t have the pedigree that Ken Hitchcok has, which includes a Stanley Cup. Hitchock knows what it takes to get his team wins. Leading a team that many have stated was ‘built for the playoffs’ will again, give the Blues an advantage over San Jose.

The Sharks only have two players who have won a Stanley Cup on their roster in Dan Boyle who won it with Tampa, and Colin White, who won it with New Jersey.

The Blues have four guys in Jason Arnott (NJD), Jamie Langenbrunner (NJD, DAL), Andy McDonald (ANA), and Kent Huskins (ANA) who’ve won Hockey’s Holy Grail. So though as a team the Blues don’t have a lot of experience, they have more guys who’ve been there and know what it takes to win it all.

Home Sweet Home

The biggest factor in this series likely wont be the players, or the coaches, or the history of these two teams, it will be the Blues having home ice advantage. The Sharks will go into a hostile territory in which the Blues have lost six, yes only six games on home ice all season long. It will easily give a boost to the Blues all series long.

If the Sharks can take a game in St. Louis, it could help them gain momentum, but that will be no easy feat. Expect the crowd’s energy to carry over into the players and it could end up giving the Sharks fits if they cannot find a way to put the puck in the net.

Overall, the advantage has to be in St. Louis’ favor in this series from goaltending to forward depth, coaching and style of play. This projects to be a very hard fought series and the winner will have to earn their victory. This is where it all matters, where players will disappoint and players will prove their worth. Who will shine? We’ll have to watch to find out!

Series Schedule

Game One – San Jose vs St. Louis -Thursday, April 12th, 6:30 pm

Game Two – San Jose vs St. Louis -Saturday, April 14th, 6:30 pm

Game Three – St. Louis vs San Jose-Monday, April 16th, 9:00 pm

Game Four – St. Louis vs San Jose- Thursday, April 19th, 9:00 pm

Game Five (if necessary) – San Jose vs St. Louis – Saturday, April 21st, 6:30

Game Six (if necessary) – St. Louis vs San Jose – Monday, April 23rd, TBD

Game Seven (if necessary) – San Jose vs St. Louis – Wednesday, April 25th, TBD

The Blues could be facing Jonathan Quick and the Los Angeles Kings in round one of the playoffs.

It’s not just one game determining their opponent, but two. The Los Angeles Kings against the San Jose Sharks in San Jose tonight will determine who is the seventh seed and who is the eighth seed in the western conference.  The Blues will faceoff against one of those two teams.

Yet it’s going to take the Edmonton Oilers and the Vancouver Canucks to determine where the Blues will finish as well.

If the Canucks lose against the Oilers tonight, in regulation, the Blues will finish first in the western conference and will take on the eighth seed. If the Canucks get a point tonight, the Blues finish seventh and will face the seventh seed team.

The L.A. Kings are up over the S.J. Sharks, 1-0 in the first period while the Oilers and Canucks are scoreless in the second period right now.

Be sure to check out the Bluenote Zone tomorrow for a preview of the Blues first round match up, who ever they face.

I’m not a fan of this guy. Image via PNLT_BX/Flickr

Not good. In a possible playoff preview, the Phoenix Coyotes took the fight to the St. Louis Blues, winning a 4-1 decision. There were two fights in the game . . . one between Rostislav Klesla and Chris Stewart that appeared to be a draw, another between Raffi Torres and Matt D’Agostini that Torres appeared to win. I’ll report on these in a Fight Card piece next week, but this brings the Blues to 41 fights on the season, good for a tie for eighth in the National Hockey League with the Chicago Blackhawks. With the draw and loss, the Blues’ fight record moves to 16-7-18.

And now, the final regular season game for the Blues, facing the Dallas Stars. The Stars were officially eliminated from playoff contention on Thursday, so this is their last hurrah. We’ve covered them three times this season (October 13th, December 26th and January 16th). The Stars are currently tied for 22nd in the NHL with the Edmonton Oilers and last night’s opponent in that category. Their fight record is an average 7-7-13.

The Stars are led in fights by former Blackhawk Jake Dowell (6’0”, 198lbs, 2-3-4 including a Draw with Scott Nichol) with nine fights. Following him is well-known pest and one of my least-favorite players ever, Steve Ott (6’0”, 190lbs, 1-0-5, including a “victory” over Barret Jackman), who has fought six times this season. Then, there’s Captain Brenden Morrow (6’0”, 205lbs, 1-1-1) and Krys Barch (6’1”, 237lbs, 1-1-1 as a Star and 4-4-4 overall, traded to the Panthers in December) with three fights each as a Star. Son of former Islanders royalty, Eric Nystrom (6’1”, 193lbs, 0-2-0) has fought twice. Among solo fighters for the Stars are future superstar Jamie Benn (6’2”, 205lbs, Win), youngster Ryan Garbutt (6’0”, 190lbs, Win), veteran defenseman Sheldon Souray (6’4”, 237lbs, Draw with Stewart) and hulking defenseman Mark Fistric (6’2”, 233lbs, Draw).

With this being the final game of the season for the Stars, expect there to be some fisticuffs. In what manner, though? I’m not sure, but a rematch between Dowell and Nichol seems possible, if Nichol plays.

Finish strong.

LET’S GO BLUES!!!!!

Information obtained via the incomparable Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fights

Mark Recchi wants Maxim Lapierre to bite his hand. Image via slidingsideways/Flickr

When the St. Louis Blues have all cylinders firing, they are a scary club to watch if you’re an opponent. We caught a glimpse of that kind of hockey club last night in seeing them dismantle the young Edmonton Oilers piece-by-piece last night in a 5-2 victory where the score really didn’t indicate how much of a dominating performance The Note put on. There were fighting majors issued in this one to Ryan Reaves and Darcy Hordichuk, though as you could tell from this Fight Card piece, you could argue that neither of them really deserved that much because Hordichuk slipped early. With that fight, though, the Blues are still 10th in the National Hockey League in fights with 31 on the season, but now tied with the Minnesota Wild in that category. With the draw, the Blues’ fight record moves to 13-6-12.

And westward we go to face the top team in the Western Conference, the Vancouver Canucks. Last year, when the Canucks were making their playoff run, people thought of this team as soft (though it wasn’t exactly founded on truth). Wary of this, the Canucks have added some tough guys to their bunch to give the team a bit of a rugged feel. You’ll see some of those newcomers below among the fighters, but really, they didn’t need to do much to their team to be near the top of the league. Nevertheless, they were active at the trade deadline and did pick up some useful pieces. We’ve covered the Canucks three times this season, all games in which the Blues picked up points against this squad (October 26th, November 4th and January 12th). The Canucks are seventh by themselves in the NHL with 34 fighting majors collected on the season, carrying a relatively mediocre 9-16-9 record.

The Canucks are led in fights by two bona-fide pests, Maxim Lapierre (6’2”, 207lbs, 2-4-1 including a Loss to Roman Polak) and Dale Weise (6’2”, 210lbs, 0-4-3 including a Draw with BJ Crombeen), with seven fights each. Next is a man that’s done for the season with injury, Aaron Volpatti (6’0”, 215lbs, 0-3-2, on IR after having season-ending shoulder surgery), with five fights and a man whose season MIGHT be over, Keith Ballard (5’11”, 208lbs, 3-1-0, on IR with headaches) with four fights. Kevin Bieksa (6’1”, 198lbs, 2-0-1) has fought three times, while Byron Bitz (6’5”, 215lbs, 2-0-0, currently with Chicago of the AHL) and Andrew Alberts (6’5”, 218lbs, 0-1-1) have fought twice each. There are four solo fighters, and they are Mike Duco (5’10”, 200lbs, Draw, currently with Chicago of the AHL), David Booth (6’0”, 212lbs, a Loss to Scott Nichol), Victor Oreskovich (6’3”, 215lbs, currently with Chicago of the AHL) and Aaron Rome (6’1”, 218lbs, Loss). Another man to look out for is the newly-acquired Zack Kassian (6’3”, 214lbs, 1-0-1 as a member of the Sabres).

Some intriguing rematch possibilities lie in this game, but I’m going for the big one here . . . namely, a fight between Kassian and Reaves. Kassian wants to endear himself to his new teammates, and Reaves matches up almost perfectly size-wise to the big man. It is certainly possible.

KEEP. WINNING.

LET’S GO BLUES!!!!!

Information obtained via the incomparable Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fights

Take a look, if you will:

Yeah, it was a draw. I guess you could give the edge to Reaves since he landed a couple punches while Hordichuk wasn’t able to throw anything. It probably had potential to be a good bout, but alas . . . an opportunity wasted by a slip.

Game Info:

Location: Edmonton

Opposing Netminder: Devan Dubnyk (per Daily Faceoff)

Blues Probable Line Combos: (Based on Feb 27 game- line up not expected to change per Jeremy Rutherford)
Forward Lines:
McDonald – Backes – Oshie
Perron – Berglund – Stewart
Sobotka – Arnott – Porter
Crombeen – Nichol – Reaves

Defensive Pairings:
Colaiacovo – Pietrangelo
Jackman – Shattenkirk
Huskins  – Polak

Starting Goalie:
Jaroslav Halak

(39-17-7)

vs

Edmonton Oilers

(25-31-6)

at

Rexall Place

9:00 pm CDT

TV FS-MW(HD) Radio- KMOX

St. Louis Blues Team Recap- With three wins to open their 6 game road trip, the Blues have once again found their way to the top of the Central Division. In a points tie with the Detroit Red Wings at 85 points, the Blues own the statistical tie breaker and have been placed atop a division that has 3 of the 5 teams owning 80 or more points in the standings. The Central Division has been proclaimed as the best division in all of Hockey at this point in time and its easy to see. Each night the Wings, Blues, and Predators claw and scratch for as many 2 point regulation wins as they can possibly come up with. It will be a knock down drag out fight to see who will sit atop the standings when the lights are turned out on this regular season and the attention is turned to the playoffs. Rest assured that the St. Louis Blues will work as hard as is necessary to get that home ice advantage through out the play offs. Come hell or high water you heard it here first the Blues are making a run to the big dance!

Blues Keys To The Game- The Blues on the road have played in two shoot em ups and 1 regulation win. Tonight, with a young and talented Edmonton team, the Blues need to be sure to keep the pressure high on the Oilers and force them to turn the puck over in their zone. The Blues are one of the very best teams in the league at dictating the the pace of play and bringing the utter frustration night in an night out. The Blues can do themselves a favor if they back check hard and not allow the young talent of the Oilers to have time and space near the net. With a solid goal tending that can rival any tandum in the league the Note can make it 4 in a row with a 110% effort tonight in Northern Alberta.

Edmonton Oilers Team Recap- The Edmonton Oilers sat at the top of the NHL when the 2011-2012 season got kick started. After making a run to the top with the Hall, Eberle, Nugent-Hopkins line, the Oilers fell from Hockey God favor and find themselves in the 14th spot in the west, 14 points out of a playoff spot. There have been many changes over the recent years in Edmonton but none more so talked about the 18 year old Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. This highly skilled first over all pick of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft fought for and made himself a permanent fixture on the Oilers big club out of camp this past fall. Plagued by a few injuries this season, Nugent-Hopkins is one bright spot amoungst many in an organization that is quietly piecing together a group of talent that will in the coming years find themselves in contention for Lord Stanley’s Cup. Once this young group finds its maturity and ability to put out 110% each and every night, look out NHL. The Oilers are coming off a 5-3 routing of a hot Winnipeg Jets team and will look to make it another two point night as they come home to face the Blues in front of their home fans. The Oilers have had their ups and downs this season, and tonight will be a tough task for a young team. Which Oilers squad will show up tonight?

Oilers Keys To The Game- The Oil have to search deep inside themselves tonight and pull out the physical hard working, back checking persistant game plan they have lurking somewhere in the back pages of their play book. Tonight a tough nosed talented Blues team comes calling and will be up to these young guys to prove to the NHL that they have the talent to keep up with the better teams in the league. Staying out of the penalty box would be a good idea for the Oilers. In the past the Blues would have squandered Power Play chances but not anymore. The Blues scored 2 power play goals in Calgary the other night and are making their way from a once 30th ranked power play up the charts. Find your way to the box tonight and you may find an L in your +- column for the season. Time to step up or get back on the porch Edmonton….

Blues News- With Alex Steen in California receiving hyperbaric treatment for his concussion symptoms the Blues are left to wonder weather his services will return this season or not. Number 20 is greatly missed in this line up. Not only his work ethic in his own zone but his ability to keep the puck on his stick and the crazy battles he wins in the corners. Alex Steen is the type of franchise player that never gets the recognition that he deserves. Alex is not only underrated by the fans here in St. Louis he is also little talked about league wide. When Alex comes back 100% keep an eye on this guy. If you want your child to mimick and be like someone who plays in the NHL I would direct you no further then Alex Steen. Blues forward Matt D’Agostini remains out with a concussion and there is no time table of a return for the Right Winger. Blues Dman Kris Russell remains out with concussion like symptoms and no new information is available from the Blues on his current condition or if he will be a possible return this season. Blues Forward Jamie Langenbrunner remains out with a broken foot and is expected to return to the line up in the next 3-4 weeks. Langs is one of the veteran presences in the locker room and it will be great to get him back into the Blue Note and keeping the youngsters headed in the right direction!

Tonight our Blues head in to Edmonton with a chance to keep pace at the top of the NHL. Will we see a 100% effort on the fourth road game of six? Keep those hands in the air and the Cold Beverages flowing! Let’s Go Blues!!!

Ben Eager. Meh. Image via Dinur/Flickr

Beastly efforts are quite awesome. What the St. Louis Blues displayed on Monday can qualify as a beastly effort. The 3-1 victory over the Calgary Flames did well to boost the team’s confidence in the middle of a long western road swing. And yes, there was a fight! Guillaume Desbiens went at it with BJ Crombeen, and while I thought it was a draw, the voters thought differently and gave Desbiens a victory on points, apparently (the fight was horrible, as you’ll see from this Fight Card piece). Whatever. The Blues now are 10th by themselves in the National Hockey League in fights with 30 on the season. With the loss, the Blues’ fight record drops to 13-6-11.

Now, the Blues go north to central Alberta to face the Edmonton Oilers. If it weren’t for the Columbus Blue Jackets being the worst team in the NHL, the Oilers would at least be the worst team in the Western Conference. Alas, for this season, they are trumped. But watch out for these guys in a few years, as with all the talent they’ve collected by being one of the worst teams in the league year-in and year-out, they should be a force to reckon with soon. This is the fourth and final meeting between the Blues and Oilers this year, so we’ve covered them three times already here (October 30th, January 5th and January 19th). For a team that is bad, the Oilers do not fight much . . . thus far, only 21 fighting majors have been assessed to this team, good for a tie for 22nd in the league with the Toronto Maple Leafs in that category. Their fight record is average at 8-5-8.

The Oilers are led in fights by veteran Darcy Hordichuk (6’1”, 212lbs, 3-2-1) with six fights, followed by Andy “Are You An Expert?” Sutton (6’6”, 245lbs, 0-0-4, and I will never tire of re-posting that YouTube clip . . . EVER) and former Blackhawk Ben Eager (6’2”, 240lbs, 2-2-0 including a Loss to Crombeen) with four fights each. Following them are tough younger brawler Theo Peckham (6’2”, 235lbs, 1-0-1, on IR with a facial injury) and “Mister Eight Points”, Sam Gagner (5’11”, 195lbs, 0-1-1) with two each. Solo fighters include Lennart Petrell (6’3”, 198lbs, Win), Ryan Jones (6’1”, 205lbs, Win) and Josh Green (6’3”, 218lbs, Draw, currently with Oklahoma City of the AHL).

It’d be easy to pick an Eager-Crombeen rematch, but I will not go that direction. Instead, what happens if little Scott Nichol gets into Gagner’s ear? Nichol is an agitator, after all. If Gagner gets agitated enough, I think a good fight would follow.

Time for the Blues to “Leap” into another win, I say. (God, that was a horrible joke. But I don’t apologize.)

LET’S GO BLUES!!!!!

Information obtained via the incomparable Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fights

Your breed is still dying, Cody. Better duck out while you can. Image via BridgetDS/Flickr

When you find ways to win, you give fans hope. The St. Louis Blues keep finding ways to win. This time, it was a barrage of shots, none of which passed the goal line until late in the third period of a 1-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night. And we saw a fight in this game, and the Blues won it! Ben Eager, for some reason, decided to take on BJ Crombeen, and lost the fight after his jersey flew over his head (video here). The Blues now have fought 22 times on the National Hockey League season, good for 10th by themselves. With the victory, the Blues’ fight record moves up to 10-2-10, which – if you ask me – is quite damn impressive.

The home stand has to come to an end at some point, and you may as well conclude it with a game against one of the worst teams in the Eastern Conference. Yes, the Buffalo Sabres are in town! This team has been hit by a rash of injuries, horrible on-ice play, a slight goaltending controversy and a myriad of other problems that I’m sure the new owner did not see coming, and probably thinks he can spend his way out of. We’ll see what happens, but in the meantime, the Sabres DO know their way around an on-ice scrap. They’ve fought 21 times on the NHL season, good for a tie for 11th place with the Calgary Flames, Chicago Blackhawks, Minnesota Wild and Winnipeg Jets in that category. Their record in these fights isn’t horrible at 8-5-8.

Leading the Sabres in fights is veteran enforcer Cody McCormick (6’3”, 221lbs, 3-1-2) with six fighting majors on the season. Following him is Paul Gaustad (6’5”, 212lbs, 2-1-0, Day-To-Day with an Upper Body Injury) with three fights. Patrick Kaleta (6’1”, 206lbs, 1-1-0), Mike Weber (6’2”, 211lbs, 0-0-2), Christian Ehrhoff (6’2”, 203lbs, 0-0-2, on IR with an Upper Body Injury) and Robyn Regehr (6’3”, 225lbs, 0-1-1) have each fought twice. Solo fighters include Joe Finley (6’7”, 245lbs, Win), Corey Tropp (6’0”, 183lbs, Win, currently with AHL Rochester), Zack Kassian (6’3”, 214lbs, Draw, currently with AHL Rochester) and Matt Ellis (6’0”, 212lbs, Loss).

If there is a fight, I have a feeling it will not feature McCormick, for some reason. On a hunch, look for Ryan Reaves and Kaleta to go at it. But we’ll see what happens.

Keep winning. That’s all.

LET’S GO BLUES!!!!!

Information obtained via the incomparable Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fights

(17-24-4)

vs

St. Louis Blues

(27-12-6)

at

Scottrade Center

Game Time 7:00 pm

TV- FS-MW(HD) Radio- KMOX

Blues Team Recap- The Blues are coming of a tough, hard fought game against the Dallas Stars in which forward TJ Oshie scored the games only goal on a pretty pass from David Perron. The win catapulted the Blues into a tie with the New York Rangers for the top spot in the NHL in points. Since that time, with the Blues sitting idle, the team has fallen to 5th place in the Western Conference and has not played a game to slide that far. The Western Conference proves to be a tightly stitched network of good teams that do not seem to be letting off the gas pedal. How will the rest of this season shake out for the Blues? If they continue to put forward the effort each night they should remain securely inside a play off spot for the first time in 2 years and only the second time since the lock out.

Blues Keys To The Game- Tonight the Blues face the young but talented Edmonton Oilers team. The Oilers have shown flashes of great brilliance this season and also some dismal failures. The Blues will need to keep track of the young stars like Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Jordan Eberle. Luckily, Hall will be sitting out tonight.  Tonight in front of the home crowd the Blues need to continue to push their fast defensive strong on the puck mentality and make the Oilers make bad plays. Puck posession has been the strong suit of the St. Louis Blues since Ken Hitchcock took over and will remain to be the sole focus for tonight.

Edmonton Oilers Team Recap- Taylor Hallhas been put on IR and is listed as “out indefinitely” after suffering a skate to the face in warm ups Tuesday. Hall received 30+ stitches to close the laceration. The Oilers are coming off  a 4-2 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Oilers this season are confusing to watch: one game they absolutely dominate the opposition, and then the next night they get completely blown out. This seesaw battle of the mind should sounds very familiar to Blues fans as it was not all that long ago our very own team dealt with this exact issue. The issue of inconsistency is a sore spot that the Oil will have to figure out how to mend. Edmonton will remain a bubble team with the potential to slide well into the cellar of the NHL if they can not turn things around in a hurry.

Edmonton Oilers Keys To The Game- Puck Possession…. Can the Oilers keep the puck away from the St. Louis Blues? With as strong as St. Louis is playing right now it will be very hard for the Oilers to come in to Scottrade Center and sneak away 2 points. The Blues own the best home record in the NHL with 19 wins already in a season that has just crossed over the half way point. Edmonton will look to get the Blues to take bad penalties, put traffic in front of the net, and try and create some havoc in front of the Blues net minders. The Blues don’t give up very many odd man rushes anymore, so hard work on the end boards and lots and lots of pucks to the net with traffic are about the only way you will see your shot total rise above 20 when you play St. Louis. Can the young Oilers team keep pace with the soaring Blues? We will see tonight at 7:00 pm.

Blues News- Forward Andy Mcdonald will be shedding the red jersey in the very near future. A return of the nimble soft handed goal scorer will be a much needed increase to the Blues ability to pot goals. Forward Alex Steen may return to the line up tonight after missing several games with a concussion. The hard working Winnipeg native will look to lace up the skates on the Blues top line with David Backes and Chris Stewart. This leaves a ton of ran rumblings on who will sit out of tonight’s game. Lou Korac believes it will be Ryan Reaves, but fans on Twitter are speculating that BJ Crombeen or even Matt D’Agostini could be in the press box tonight.  Defenseman Kris Russel will be looking to get back into the line up tonight aw sell, and it appears Ian Cole will drop out of the top 6 defensemen if that happens.  Kent Huskins continues to skate and is likely to return in the coming weeks creating a bit of a log jam at the defense position.

The sale of the St. Louis Blues remains to be a mystery.  Tom Stillman the only perspective buyer left in the pool of potential has entered in to his exclusive window to buy the team according to the NHL front office. Rumors have been rumbling in the last few days the Stillman may be soon ready to sign a purchase agreement to buy the team. Details of the alledged agreement have not been verified.

Get up off your butts and get your hands up in the air! It’s time once again for some BLUES HOCKEY! LET’S GO BLUES!