Tonight’s matchup between the Chicago Blackhawks and the St Louis Blues has all of the makings for a good ol’ regular season slugfest. The Blues haven’t seen the Hawks since they were knocked out of the playoffs by them in game 6 of the first round last season.
The Blackhawks will try to prevent back-to-back divisional loses tonight after coming off a 3-2 loss in Nashville Thursday to a rejuvenated Predators teams. Former Penguin forward James Neal delivered a hat trick for Nashville and Pekka Rinne looked like the goalie he was three years ago in the Nashville win.
Coming off a shootout loss to the Kings, a 3-0 loss at Anaheim, and a 4-1 loss at home against Vancouver, the Blues will try to right the ship against quite possibly the best team in the league. Brian Elliott will be back in net tonight for the Blue Notes and aside from newcomer Paul Stastny being out of the lineup, the Blues are healthy.
WHO’S HOT
Blackhawks goaltender Antti Raanta. Before losing to the Predators Thursday night, Raanta denied all 32 of the Philadelphia Flyers attempts on his way to pitching a 4-0 shutout. His .949 save percentage has him sitting 9th in the NHL in that category.
WHO’S NOT
Blues forward Vladimir Tarasenko. Despite tallying 5 points in the 6 games he’s played, he’s only netted one goal on 28 shot attempts. He by far has the most shot attempts on the team and the only players with less goals than Tarasenko are the ones that haven’t scored at all.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
Brent Seabrook. After leveling Blues Captain David Backes in game 2 of the first round of last year’s playoffs on a cheap shot, Backes could be more than motivated to retaliate on Seabrook. I look to see a pretty physical game early and for Ryan Reeves to do what he does best.
The puck drops tonight at Scottrade at 7 PM and can be seen on FS-MW or heard on KMOX 1120.
Photo by Getty Images
