stljam

"It's a great day for hockey!"

St. Louis, MO • United States • 39 Years Old • Male

Blues trends continue

The Blues continued recent trends in their 2 -1 victory over the host Edmonton Oilers, winning their second road game in a row on Canadian soil and handing the Oilers their third straight home loss. it also kept Elliott undefeated against Canadian teams this year.

In the victory, the Blues failed to score more than two goals yet again even though they were facing an Oilers team that has already given up more than 200 goals on the season, something only three other teams have done so far.

With the win, the Blues extended their lead over the Hawks to five points with a game in hand. Given Kane's injury, I wonder how many Blues fans are hoping the Jets leapfrog the Hawks and the Blues end up with them as the 2-3 matchup.

I was only able to catch a few minutes of the game but the chemistry between Stastny and Jaskin sure seemed to be continuing in the little bit that I saw. This perception was reinforced by the box score which shows Stastny with a goal and an assist and Jaskin with a goal.

In reviewing the box score, I noticed a few interesting items:
- Jaskin with more ice time than Tarasenko
- Ott with less than 10 minute of ice time, just like the rest of the fourth line
- Lindbohm and Gunnarson with almost 20 minutes of ice time each
- Jaybo with only a little over 21 minutes of ice time
- Jackman and Cole with only around 15 minutes.

I like this distribution a lot better than some of the nights were Jaybo and Petro are combining for 55-60 minutes. I'd much rather them in the 45-50 minute range at this point of the season. Save them a bit for April, May and June and today's game.

Speaking of today, the Blues continue East to Vancouver to face the Cancucks. They hope to improve to 9-3-1 against Canadian teams with a victory today. Jake Allen is expected between the pipes and looks to avenge his loss earlier in the season where his save percentage was a paltry 86%. Unfortunately, in looking at Allen's performance against Canadian teams this season, he is only averaging a terrible 86% save percentage. The Blues will be in trouble tonight if he can't improve on this trend.

ETA - JR tweeted that he suspects the Blues have to make a move because of Chicago adding Vermette and Timonen. I couldn't disagree more. The Hawks got worse in essentially trading Kane and Oduya (out with injuries) for Vermette and Timonen. I understand they fill different roles but the Hawks are worse today than they were a month ago because of Kane's injury, plane and simple. I don't think their actions force a move at all. I think they will make a move as Armstrong has proven to be aggressive and active in trying to make the team better but it isn't because of any pressure because of these moves.

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