Blues forward Evgeny Grachev played exceedingly well during the pre-season he had three goals and two assists playing on a line with Jamie Langenbrunner and David Backes. The scenery does make a difference with production, however. After the injury to Andy McDonald left room for him in the line-up, he’s been on the fourth line with Scott Nichol, Chris Porter, or Ryan Reaves. None of these guys are bad players, but the duty of the fourth line is a protect the puck/shutdown the opposition’s top guys kind of role. You don’t have scads of chances for scoring.
Chris Stewart’s suspension, however, left another hole in the line-up which was considerably higher up on the totem pole. According to Lou Korac, Grachev will be on the second line tonight with Patrik Berglund and Matt D’Agostini. D’Agostini so far has five goals and two assists on the season, and Berglund has four goals and three assists. When you consider that Berglund has very solid playmaking abilities, as can D’Agostini, this could be a dangerous line with three of a kind on it.