Sharks At Blues: Andy McDonald Returns To The Line-Up Tonight

ST. LOUIS - NOVEMBER 4: Andy McDonald #10 of the St. Louis Blues looks to keep the puck away from Dan Boyle #22 of the San Jose Sharks at the Scottrade Center on November 4 2010 in St. Louis Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)

The Blues are humming right along, putting distance between themselves and third place Nashville. Another home win tonight could put them within one point of the division-leading Detroit Red Wings.

Feb 12, 2012 - The San Jose Sharks have had a lot of success against the St. Louis Blues at Scottrade Center, winning 10 of their last 14 games there. This isn't the Blues of seasons past, where their home record didn't almost nearly guarantee a victory for the team, but now? With their overtime win Saturday over the Colorado Avalanche, the Blues expanded their franchise best point streak at home to 19 games. They haven't been beaten in regulation at home since December 3rd, a 5-2 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks. While the Hawks are spiraling downward in the standings, the Blues have been able to keep the momentum going. At the start of the game tonight they sit three points behind Detroit for the divisional and conference lead.

Hampering the effort to overtake the wings might be the loss of three top scorers. Alex Steen is still out with a concussion, Jason Arnott is on the IR with a bruised shoulder, and Matt D'Agostini's been placed on IR with concussion like symptoms. Luckily the Blues are getting back a very important piece of the puzzle tonight -- concussed forward Andy McDonald should be making his return. In speaking to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Jeremy Rutherford, McDonald seemed thrilled about his return.

"Everybody from the players to the management to the city is really excited about this team. It was a hard thing watching ... the team having so much success and you want to be out there and be a part of it. Unfortunately I've missed a large chunk of the season, but hopefully we've got a large part left to play. I'm really looking forward to being a part of it."

So are the team and the fans. The Blues' power play, even with David Perron's two tallies last night, is 27th in the league at 13.7%. McDonald is the kind of veteran playmaker needed to get some performance out of the rest of the power play unit.

Jaroslav Halak will be in net tonight. Halak has won seven games in a row at home, and has only lost twice on Scottrade ice. Hopefully that trend will continue so the Blues can defeat the Sharks for the third time in a row this season.