Tuesday night at 7:30 the St. Louis Blues will host the Colorado Avalanche. This will be the fourth time these two teams have meet this season.
Following a 4-0 win against the Washington Capitals the Blues return home to try and extend their win streak to five and record their first win this season against the Avalanche. A team that has proven to be a very difficult opponent.
This should be a great matchup between two central division teams. The Blues have been playing exceptionally well as of late. In fact they haven’t allowed a goal in the last four games, setting a franchise record for consecutive scoreless minutes at 240. Meanwhile the Avalanche are desperate for a win. They currently find themselves three points behind the Minnesota Wild for the second wild card spot.
Perhaps the biggest story of the night will be the return of veteran forward Alex Steen. This will be the first time Steen has appeared in the lineup since sustaining an upper body injury from a collision with Arizona Coyotes defensemen Kevin Connauton on February 20th.
This will be a huge boost for a Blues team that is finally starting to show some signs of offensive life. Despite missing fifteen games Steen still ranks second on the team in points with forty-seven. He currently sits fourth with seventeen goals and is tied with Vladimir Tarasenko for first in assists with thirty.
Steen will slide back into his old spot, centering the line of David Backes and Patrik Berglund. Before his injury this group of seasoned veterans was beginning to show real promise as a legitimate scoring line as well as a heavy defensive presence. Steen is the Blues best two-way player and his defense as well as his offense has been missed.
Unfortunately the Blues will still not be playing with a complete lineup. Defensemen Jay Bouwmeester and Carl Gunnarsson are day to day and not expected to play. According to head coach Ken Hitchcock they may not be available for Friday’s game against Boston as well.
However, this does open the door for Petteri Lindbohm to make his second start start with the club. In his first game back since December the young defensemen saw sixteen minutes of ice time and was an even plus-minus.
Despite having a great season with the Blues last year Lindbohm has spent most of 2015-16 with the Chicago Wolves due mostly to the outstanding play of rookies Colton Parayko and Joel Edmundson. But it is no secret that the front office expects Lindbohm to eventually have steady spot on the Blues roster and until then the more time he can spend with the club the better.
Brian Elliott will be in goal and will be looking to notch his fourth consecutive win as well as his record setting fourth straight shutout. In doing so, he would also extend his franchise record setting shutout total to twenty-six. However, all of those things will be the farthest from Elliot’s mind as his main objective will be to help his team secure another valuable two points. Two points that may help his team move past the Dallas Stars for first place in the Central Division.
Starting Lines
Schwartz-Lehtera-Tarasenko
Fabbri-Stastny-Brouwer
Berglund-Steen-Backes
Upshall-Brodziak-Reaves
Defensemen
Edmundson-Pietrangelo
Shattenkirk-Parayko
Lindbohm-Bortuzzo
Goalie
