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Cola's back, back again. After missing eight games with a tweaked hamstring, beleagured shut down defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo returns to the Blues' line up this evening, probably to be paired again with Alex Pietrangelo.
It's always nice when things come together, and aside from a hiccup or two this weekend in the form of a shootout loss to the Colorado Avalanche and a 5-2 loss at home to the Chicago Blackhawks, the Blues are coming together nicely. They've only lost two games in regulation under Ken Hitchcock. David Perron returned Saturday night and scored on his first shot. Jaroslav Halak and Brian Elliott are quite the tandem. What more could the Blues get? How about defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo coming back after being out for the past eight games with a hamstring injury? Not too bad. He's only played thirteen games this year, but he's one of the most solid defensemen on a team chock full of solid defensemen. Him coming back means that Ian Cole has to sit, but it also reunites the pairing of Cola and Alex Pieterangelo, who has scoring punch and a defensive wall all at once.
Actually, Hitchcock has a lot to work with now. B.J. Crombeen's a few weeks away from coming back, but the line-up is stacked enough for Hitch to move players around. Vladimir Sobotka'll be starting tonight at center on the third line, with Matt D'Agostini on his left and Jamie Langenbrunner to the right. This means that Chris Stewart is back up on the second line as a reward for his goal Saturday night against the Blackhawks. Stewart's been struggling a bit, but with David Perron there to help him make plays and Patrik Berglund centering them, the second line's as potent as the top line of Alex Steen, David Backes, and T.J. Oshie.
The Red Wings just had a seven game win streak broken by the Avalanche, and are a dangerous opponent as always. They've played against the new coach before, so there runs the chance of the Wings understanding the new system like the Blackhawks seem to have. The last time they met up, the Blues won in a low-scoring 2-1 contest. Those two goals don't allow much for a margin of error, and the Blues've scored two goals or less eighteen times this year. They have the scorers, they have the punch, but they haven't seemed to be able to convert much. They need to fix that so that there's a margin of error. The game against the Avalanche was lost because they were unable to maintain that one goal lead through the third period. If it's hard to do that against the Avs, imagine how hard it is to do that twice to the Red Wings. Hopefully Brian Elliott's over his brain fart that he had on Saturday.
Coach Mike Babcock doesn't think that the Red Wings and the Blues have a rivalry. I know that's different for them than it is for the Blues, but a few more wins over them and maybe, just maybe both teams can see it the same way. Tonight's a good place to start - the game's on Versus, which means an early 6:30 start time.
Detroit Red Wings At St. Louis Blues Final Score: Blues Down Feisty Wings 3-2
It appears we have a rivalry on our hands now, Coach Babcock. With tonight’s 3-2 defeat of the Detroit Red Wings, the Blues managed to score three goals in one game and Brian Elliott managed to allow just two, letting his GAA deflate a teeny bit from Saturday night’s 5-2 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks.
Tight defense was the name of the game throughout the first period, but some chippiness and frustration snuck up on both teams throughout the game, especially in the third period. You have Justin Abdelkatder run Blues goaltender Brian Elliott (which, admittedly, Elliott sold a bit), followed by Brad Stuart pushing David Perron into Jimmy Howard, which started Howard’s mitt and waffleboard flailing in the general direction of Perron’s head. It’s evident these two teams don’t care for each other much, though not on the same level as the dislike between the Blues and their main rivals, the Chicago Blackhawks. This contempt almost stems from the Blues trying to be more rough around the edges and working class, while the Red Wings get frustrated whenever St. Louis gets a leg up on them.
The second period saw two goals. One was scored by Johan Franzen on the power play, in which he plowed up to the crease but not through it — and surprised the Blues’ defenders by wristing it high and in. The Blues answered on an Alex Steen power play goal which blasted through traffic and past Howard. That was, sadly, just the Blues’ ninth PPG of the season.
David Backes figured why not add one more for their tenth, which he did at the start of the third period. Backes himself also has ten goals on the season, one more than Steen. Patrik Berglund added what would become the game winning goal less than two minutes later, on a slap shot that was assisted by Chris Stewart and David Perron.
On the power play from the aforementioned penalty handed out to Perron for “running” Jimmy Howard, Danny Cleary scored the Wings’ second goal of the evening on the man advantage. The Blues’ penalty kill could be forgiven, though, considering six men were on the ice for Detroit. Thankfully tight defensive play kept one more Detroit goal off of the scoreboard.
Going back to the game last March that the Blues won 10-3, St. Louis has outscored Detroit 15-6 in their last three games. No, that’s not lopsided at all.
The Blues are in action again Thursday night against the flailing Anaheim Ducks and their new coach, Bruce Boudreau. Tonight’s win ties the Blues with the Red Wings in points for second in the Central Division, and it will put them in a three-way points tie for fifth in the Western Conference with Detroit and, if they win tonight, the Vancouver Canucks.
Dec 06 9:38p by Laura Astorian