Blues Send Eight Players ToPeoria, Including Goaltender Ben Bishop

The “who will be the Blues’ backup?” drama is officially over, as the Blues announced today that they are sending Ben Bishop down to the AHL Peoria Rivermen. Philip McRae and Ian Cole also join Bishop in Peoria. Jonathan Cheechoo, Adam Cracknell, Anthony Peluso and Brett Sterling are also to be sent back, as is defenseman Mark Cundari.

In unrelated news, BJ Crombeen is out indefinitely with a fractured shoulder sustained in today’s pre-season loss against the Dallas Stars. It is unknown when he will return, and between his and Carlo Colaiacovo’s injurtes, it seems that the Blues’ annual injury bug is anxious to get started. These two injuries open up two roster spots possibly for players who would not otherwise have gotten a start with the Blues this season.

St. Louis Blues Drop Final Pre-Season Contest To Dallas Stars 4-0

Today wasn’t the way that the Blues wanted to end the pre-season. Coming into the game with a 5-2 record, the Blues were shut out by Andrew Raycroft and the Dallas Stars 4-0 in an early afternoon game at the Scottrade Center.

Jaroslav Halak allowed four goals on 33 shots to luminaries such as Jake Dowell, Francis Wathier, Vernon Fiddler, and Tomas Vincour. Not to worry, Blues fans. This wasn’t the season starting line-up and the team wasn’t playing at season-starting level. Brett Sterling Jonathan Cheechoo, and Anthony Peluso returned before the season even started as AHL call-ups for today’s game, and Mark Cundari was recalled as well to replace an injured Carlo Colaiacovo.

Colaiacovo, who can tend to be more than a little injury prone, was injured Thursday. Said Davis Payne, when Belleville News Democrat Blues reporter Norm Sanders asked if Colaiacovo’s injury was serious:

“We hope not, but again until you get all that info … until you get that clearer picture it doesn’t make much sense to say anything. What we determined this morning is we need to look into it a little bit more.”

Well, at least the Blues have the jump on the season in one aspect. The season starts on Saturday October 8th with pre-game festivities beginning at 4:30.

Colorado Avalanche At St. Louis Blues: Blues Win 3-1 Behind Big Guns

Nearly the first two periods of tonight’s preseason game seemed fairly evenly matched, with both Blues goalie Ben Bishop and Avalanche goaltender Jean-Sebastian Giguere both playing like their goal was a shutout. Neither of the two wound up with one, and only one of the two goaltenders faced a number of quality shots as the Blues defeated the Colorado Avalanche 3-1.

David Backes got the Blues on the board at 17:28 with a backhand shot that snuck past Giguere. The Avalanche answered early on in the third period with a goal from Joakim Lindstrom.

Fan favorite T.J. Oshie scored his goal of the game with assists from Andy McDonald and Alex Pietrangelo, who so far this pre-season is showing absolutely no sign of a sophomore slump. The Blues final goal came from Patrik Berglund at 12:28 of the third period with an assist from Barret Jackman. Berglund, after a wildly successful World Championships showing, is expected to have a break out season with the Blues.

Ben Bishop made 18 saves on 19 shots, making the decision for Davis Payne regarding the back up position that much harder. Neither Bishop nor Brian Elliott has given Payne much cause for demotion.

The Blues conclude their preseason with a game at home on Saturday at 1:30 against the Dallas Stars. Fans then must wait a week before opening night on October 8th, when the Nashville Predators come to town.

Colorado Avalanche At St. Louis Blues: Blues Want To Close Out With A Win

To say that the Colorado Avalanche played poorly last night would be an understatement. They got shellacked 6-0 by the LA Kings at home. Seymon Varlamov, acquired from the Washington Capitals for a first round pick in this year’s draft and a second rounder in next years, continued to underwhelm – and to make Avs fans curse their General Manager Greg Sherman yet again. Sherman was also the mastermind of the deal that sent former first overall pick Erik Johnson and Jay McClement to the Avalanche for Chris Stewart and Kevin Shattenkirk.

Avs fans are still steamed about that. They’ll probably be steamed about the Varly deal for a while, too.

Tonight’s the second to last shot for some guys to show off their skills to crack the roster – look for Evgeny Grachev, who scored in the Blues’ last win over the Avalanche, to put up an impressive showing tonight. As an added bonus, the game’ll both be broadcast on KMOX and video will be available on the Blues website for the Metro Area. Unfortunately, out of area sad sacks like me will be stuck with the radio broadcast only.

St. Louis Blues At Minnesota Wild: Blues Snatch Victory In Last Ten Minutes; Win 4-3

If this is what this season’s roster will be all about – sudden death comebacks to win – that’s an improvement from the past. Last season the Blues had a .190 winning percentage when trailing after one period, only winning four times after a bad first period. Last night began in much the same way, with the Blues down 2-1 after the first period – the lone goal coming from recent returnee Scott Nichol, who was finally cleared to play after surgery to heal a torn labrum.

The Blues found themselves down 3-2 at the end of the second, but Matt D’Agostini scored at 12:30 of the 3rd on the powerplay, and Carlo Colaiacovo added the game winner with a minute and nine seconds left to go in the game.

Unfortunately, the Blues will be missing Jason Arnott for the end of the pre-season. The new signee will be out for a week after cataract surgery on his right eye. The Blues, though, are back in action tomorrow night at 7:00 against the Avalanche at Scottrade Center.

There’s the potential for a huge conflict of interest for lots of Blues fans, as the National League tiebreaker game is scheduled for 7:00 at Busch Stadium. First pitch’ll be necessary if both the Cardinals and Atlanta Braves win or lose tonight.

St. Louis Blues At Minnesota Wild: Mostly NHL Rosters Expected For Both Teams Tonight

With both the Blues and the Wild trimming down rosters in preparation for the final cuts before the season starts, tonight’s game will probably play a bit more like an NHL game than the previous matchup. Unfortunately for the Blues, Niklas Backstrom is in net for tonight’s game, too. Backstrom allowed no goals on 32 shots against him, with the usually stingy Wild defense doing their job.

Tonight’s line-up sees the Blues have to deal with a top line of Setoguchi-Koivu-Heatley, which could very well lead to more scoring than the one goal that the Wild scored on the 23rd. The Blues counter with a line-up that contain all NHLers save for Evgeny Grachev, Chris Porter, and Ryan Reaves up front. The battle for backup supremacy continues with Ben Bishop possible for some icetime tonight.

Puck drop is at 7:00 Central time, and will be broadcast on the Wild’s website here. It will NOT be on KMOX as the Cardinals remain in the race for the Wild Card as they play the Houston Astros tonight.

St. Louis Blues Pre-Season: Blues Cut Roster By Twelve Players

The Peoria Rivermen should be happy – they’re finally starting to get a team together. The Blues announced twelve more cuts yesterday, all of whom will be going to their AHL affiliate. According to the official press release, the Rivermen will be getting Jonathan Cheechoo, T.J. Hensick, Brett Sterling, Jake Allen, Jay Barriball, Mark Cundari, Cade Fairchild, Kyle Hagel, Anthony Nigro, Anthony Peluso, Brett Ponich and Danny Syvret.

St. Louis Blues Pre-Season: Blues Trim Roster, Send 12 Down

According to the Blues’ official site, the Blues’ roster is now down to 42 players after they sent four players to their respective junior teams and eight to Peoria.

Stefen Della Rovere, Brennan Evans, Jake Gannon, Derek Nesbitt, Chase Polacek, Tyler Shattock, David Shields and Brett Sonne were all assigned to the Peoria Rivermen yesterday afternoon.

Stephen MacAulay, Ty Rattie, Ryan Tesink and Yannick Veilleux were all sent to their respective junior teams.

St. Louis Blues At Dallas Stars: Blues Drop Close Game To Dallas 3-2

t’s never high praise when a coach calls a goaltender’s performance in a game “fine.”

Sure, the game was a pretty good back and forth, with Andy McDonald and Alexander Steen both scoring for the Blues, but the undisciplined penalties continue to be a problem. The Blues let the Stars go on the powerplay five times, and while the PK was effective, the fact that the team didn’t have the discipline to limit penalties is becoming a trend during the pre-season that the Blues need to let up on.

The “we’ll go back and look at it” regarding Elliot’s performance from Coach Payne isn’t a huge vote of confidence for the goaltender, who is competing for the position of back-up with Ben Bishop. However, neither goaltender’s performance has been standout so far this pre-season, so it’s still anyone’s job to get.

The Blues get a little bit of a break, with their next game coming up Tuesday night in Minnesota against the Wild.

St. Louis Blues At Colorado Avalanche: Evgeny Grachev Scores His Third Goal As Blues Win 3-2

Evgeny Grachev apparently wants to make the Blues’ roster, and he’s giving Davis Payne tons of reasons to keep him with the team come opening night. Grachev scored the Blues’ lone goal of the opening period. Says Payne:

“He’s finding a way to be effective, not only on the score sheet, but in a number of different areas, decisions on the ice with the puck, his defensive play,” Blues coach Davis Payne said. “He’s come here to make a statement to our organization after picking him up in a trade this summer and he’s doing a very good job of it.”

Adam Cracknell and David Backes scored in the 3rd period, with Backes scoring an empty netter. Jake Allen outdueled Semyon Varlamov with 23 saves on 25 shots.

Tonight’s pre-season game sees the Blues’ horrible five games in five nights schedule wrap-up in Dallas against the Stars. Puck drop is at 7:00 Central.

Minnesota Wild At St. Louis Blues: Blues Lose Snoozer To Wild

Games against the Wild, save with the occasional exception, are usually snooze-inducing. It’s a reputation that they have in nearly every arena in the sport, regardless of if the team that they’re playing has lots of experience with them or not. Their reputation precedes them.

Niklas Backstrom helped continue the Wild’s trend of keeping the opposition’s chances to a bare minimum, allowing no goal on 32 shots. Blues’ goaltender Jaroslav Halak allowed one goal on 17 shots against a Wild team that really didn’t crash much, and who was made up of mostly AHLers and prospects.

Only after Warren Peters scored did the Blues start pressuring Backstrom, but if you allow him to get into a rhythm with occasional shots to show him what you’re planning on doing, he’s possibly one of the best goaltenders in the game. He showed that last night.

The next pre-season game is tonight (!) against the Colorado Avalanche at the Pepsi Center. Puck drop is at 8:00.

St. Louis Blues At Tampa Bay Lightning: Blues Win On Late Adam Cracknell Score

It’s a shame this game wasn’t televised, because it certainly sounded exciting on the radio. It was a see-saw match up, with goals being traded back and forth. Adam Cracknell scored the game winning goal with 2:20 left to go in the game, impressive for a guy who has gotten more looks as a member of the Peoria Rivermen than as a member of the Blues. Chris Stewart had a goal and two assists in a night where the Tampa Bay Lightning were introduced to the Stewart that they luckily won’t have to play against six times a year – sorry, Anthony.

Dwayne Roloson allowed one goal on nine shots, while Jaroslav Janus allowed three goals on fifteen. Big Ben Bishop, competing for the position of backup with Brian Elliot, allowed three goals on 21 shots, temporarily giving the edge in the contest to Elliot.

Eric Brewer deflected in a goal against his old teammates, tying the game on one of Tampa’s many powerplays in the 3rd period before Cracknell scored the game winner.

Tonight the Blues return to Scottrade to face off against the Minnesota Wild. Puck drop is at 7:00, and KMOX will have the radio this time around since the Cards play a day game today against the Mets.

St. Louis Blues At Tampa Bay Lightning: The Rematch

Wow, that was quick. The Blues take down the Bolts 3-1 last night on the strength of some work by Evgeny Grachev and his line-mates David Backes and Jamie Langenbrunner. Tonight, they’re going to have to try to go 2-0 so far on the preseason with a whole new line-up. With four more games in four days, the Blues’ll be thankful training camp has so many people.

Tonight’s game won’t be held at the St. Pete Times Forum – it’ll be at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida (no word on if Amway’ll try to slap their logo on the teams’ jerseys). Central Florida’s a bit stuck when it comes to NHL hockey. You either have to drive to Tampa Bay or schlep all the way down to Sunrise, so the Bolts decided to bring hockey to the other land that the Mighty Ducks movie franchises help build.

According to the Lightning’s game preview, Tampa Bay has a 3-0-1 record in Orlando, and their pre-season record is an impressive 13-4-3. Let’s see if St. Louis can’t make that 13-5-3 tonight.

Tampa Bay Lightning At St. Louis Blues: Blues Take First Preseason Game 3-1

It’s difficult to re-cap a game that you listened to on the radio. Mainly, what you can take away from this game via the radio broadcast and the scoresheet is threefold:

1. Brian Elliot seems to want the back-up job – he stopped 21 of 22 shots for a .955 SV%.

2. Silly penalties at inappropriate times are back! The Blues took seven non-fighting penalties, including a four minute double minor for high-sticking to Brett Ponich in the 2nd period. Pre-season or no, you don’t take those penalties.

3. Evgeny Grachev wants to make the NHL. Two goals (one an EN) with Jamie Langenbrunner and David Backes assisting on each seems to give credence to the fact that tonight’s top line worked. Let’s see if in future preseason games Davis Payne keeps them together or mixes them up. Sure, this wasn’t a powerhouse performance from Grachev, but two goals isn’t being a slouch, either. Well done!

Tomorrow night the Blues travel to Orlando to take on the Bolts yet again. Puck drop’s at 6, and believe me – I think that Roman Polak and Carlo Colaiacovo’ll be taking the night off. With 18:52 and 15:29 of ice time tonight respectively, I think they’ve earned it.

Lightning At Blues: Line-Ups Released For Tonight's Game

From STLToday.com:

Evgeny Grachev-David Backes-Jamie Langenbrunner

Matt D’Agostini-Philip McRae-Jonathan Cheechoo

Chris Porter-Brett Sonne-B.J. Crombeen

Derek Nesbitt-Anthony Nigro-Anthony Peluso

Defensemen
Carlo Colaiacovo-Roman Polak

Brett Ponich-Kevin Shattenkirk

Danny Syvret-Mark Cundari

Goalie
Brian Elliott

From the Tampa Tribune:

Carter Ashton-Dominic Moore-Steve Downie

Mattias Ritola-Nate Thompson-Ryan Shannon

Dana Tyrell-Adam Hall-Alex Picard

JT Wyman-Mike Angelidis-Eric Neilson

Defensemen
Victor Hedman-Brett Clark

Mark Barberio-Pavel Kubina

Richard Petiot-Radko Gudas

Goalie
Mathieu Garon

Puck drop is at 7:00, and the game will be available to stream via the Lightning’s official website. No word yet on STL radio, but thanks to a Cardinals game, no dice on KMOX.

Tampa Bay Lightning At St. Louis Blues: Blues Preseason Begins Tonight

The official start of hockey season's just a few weeks away, but the business of setting rosters and getting back into the swing of things is just getting started. A grueling week of five straight pre-season games is underway.