Continuing to reel are the St. Louis Blues, who lost their third-straight game on Saturday to the Winnipeg Jets, 5-3.
You can easily pinpoint the Blues’ recent struggles to their poor defensive effort. They’ve allowed five or more goals and at least one power play goal in each of the contests during their three-game skid, with neither of their three available goalies in Jake Allen, Carter Hutton and rookie Pheonix Copley being able to contain the opposition. Copley got the nod on Saturday to start his first-ever NHL game, but he was burnt badly by the Jets with three upper-handed goals himself.
The main focus for St. Louis is to get main net-minder Allen back into form, yet we’re not certain if he’s ready to make his comeback this Tuesday. He was pulled from action in his last two starts against the Capitals and Kings, having allowed a total of seven goals in those two contests.
In turn, the Blues are forced to match their opponents’ firepower. Defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk scored twice on Saturday, but he’s not really in the right position to lead the attack. The only forward who’s got a hot hand right now is left wing Alexander Steen, who has three goals and six points during St. Louis’ three-game slide.
It’s about time that All-Star Vladimir Tarasenko gets it going. He’s been held goal-less and has just three points over the past seven games, and it appears that his slump won’t be rectified this Tuesday against the Penguins yet. Although the Blues have won three of their last four played in Pittsburgh, their last win dates back to March of 2015 and the Pens are a certainly a frightening bunch this season. Which leads us to…
Make that four-consecutive victories for the Pittsburgh Penguins, who found little to no resistance from the Boston Bruins on Sunday, 5-1.
Just about everything is coming up roses for the defending Stanley Cup champs. Sidney Crosby knocked in his league-leading 28th goal of the season on Sunday, and Conor Sheary also found the back of the net for the ninth time in as many contests. Even Evgeni Malkin got in on the action with a couple of assists, further extending his point streak to seven games.
Pittsburgh’s offense has been quite unstoppable, as the team is tops in all of hockey with 3.6 goals scored per game and third in power play conversion at 23.7 percent. Given how St. Louis has struggled to contain opposing teams, count on the Pens to light up the boards yet again on Wednesday.
Not only that, but second-year goalie Matt Murray has simply been phenomenal of late as well. Murray made a whopping 44 saves against the Bruins and has allowed just one goal in each of his last three starts, stopping 90 of 93 shots that came his way during that stretch.
Lastly, the Blues are in line for a beating indeed because the Penguins have been virtually unstoppable in Steel City. Pittsburgh has gone 13-0-1 in its last 14 home games and hasn’t lost a decision at PPG Paints Arena in seven straight, with the team having scored an average of 5.28 goals during that seven-game span.
