New York Rangers vs St. Louis Blues: A tough road test
By Steve Paulus
About the Blues
The Blues boast the best home record of any team in the Western Conference at 15-4-3. They have won seven games in a row at the Enterprise Center, the longest active streak in the NHL and tied for the longest home streak this season.
They’ve won seven of their last ten games though things have been a little rocky lately. Since having an eight game winning streak stopped by Arizona on New Year’s Eve , they have have gone 2-2-1 and allowed 18 goals.
They are coming off a dominant 5-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night. Alexander Steen, Robert Thomas and Tyler Bozak each had three points in that win. Meanwhile, David Perron has goals in three straight games and Ryan O’Reilly has six assists in his last four games.
The Blues are without Vladimir Tarasenko who is out for months after shoulder surgery. Top defenseman Colton Parayko missed Thursday’s contest with an upper body injury and is deemed unlikely to play tonight.
The Blues are averaging 3.18 goals per game (the Rangers average 3.35), but they are doing it with defense, allowing an average of 2.64 goals per game, fifth best in the league. That’s a half a goal per game fewer than the Blueshirts at 3.30.
They have a lethal power play, operating at 25% efficiency and they have the 12th best penalty kill in the NHL at 80.9%. The Blues average the fourth fewest penalty minutes per game in the league while the Rangers take the most.
David Perron is the Blues’ “Last Man In” candidate for the All-Star team and he is their leading scorer with 19 goals and 45 points in 45 games. Those 19 goals lead the team followed by Brayden Schenn with 17. They do miss Tarasenko’s offense and have been mentioned as a possible suitor for Chris Kreider at the trade deadline. One issue for St. Louis is the salary cap as they have only $20k in cap space available.
Alex Pietrangelo is their leading defenseman and team captain. His status as an unrestricted free agent his hanging over the team as they head into the second half of the season. The Blues traded for Justin Faulk at the start of the season, a move seen as protection in case Pietrangelo departs.