Blues set to finish productive road trip in Montreal

The glitz and hoopla of opening night in St. Louis ended with a 3-1 victory of the Edmonton Oilers and generational star Connor McDavid. The Blues then embarked on a six-game trip, starting in Minnesota with a battle against the Wild, their nemesis and cause of an early-round departure in last-season’s playoffs.

The Blues lost 3-2 at the Xcel Energy Center, and lost Robby Fabbri to a concussion, evening St. Louis’ record at 1-1. But since then, the Blues have gone on to rattle off four regulation road wins against some very tough opponents.

In this four-game road winning streak, St. Louis defeated Calgary 4-3 and Edmonton 4-2 to take Alberta. The night after defeating the Oilers for the second time in a week, St. Louis travelled to Vancouver and dispatched the Canucks 4-3 in a game far more lopsided than the score indicated. The next test came on Sunday afternoon when the Blues faced the high-flying Jets.

St. Louis never trailed in the game and finally broke loose on a goal 11 minutes into the final period from Vladimir Tarasenko. Carl Gunnarsson found twine late in the game on a power play goal and the Blues took the game 4-2.

The next test is against NHL-leading Montreal and their 6-0-0 record. Carey Price and the Canadiens will provide St. Louis their most formidable test yet.

In addition to the loss of Fabbri on the trip, St. Louis also lost Paul Stastny who was struck with a shot in the second period of the Vancouver game. Stastny, attempting to skate before the start of the third period, was removed from the game and held out of the remaining two games of the trip. He has a goal and 5 points with a +4 rating and averaging 18:16 in ice time. He is winning 54.2% of his face-offs.

And the forwards are not the only group getting beat up. Kevin Shattenkirk left the game in Calgary with a lower-body injury. It was thought it might be a recurrence of the injury which kept the All-Star defenseman out a considerable amount of time last season. Shattenkirk has one assist and eight shots in just more than two games while averaging 19:34 of ice time.

There is no word on when Fabbri, Stastny and Shattenkirk might return.

Injuries have not been the only nuisance during the early part of the season. Several key players have struggled in the early going.

Blues’ Captain David Backes has been held without a goal in the first six games, registering just two assists, and a -2 rating. He has a total of 12 shots and is averaging 18:34 on the ice. Perhaps the only bright spot in his game is the 58.1% face-off winning percentage. Backes is in the final year of his contract.

The Blues sit with a 5-1-0 record and there are many reasons driving their position near the top of the NHL standings.

Vladimir Tarasenko is tied for the league lead in goals (5) and points (9). He leads the Blues with a +6 and is getting an average of 19:15 in ice time per game. He has been the player St. Louis needed him to be and living up to the 8-year, $60M contract.

Alexander Steen has 3 goals and 7 points with a +2 rating and averaging 19:38 of ice time and is second in scoring. Newcomer Troy Brouwer is third in scoring with 2 goals and 6 points with a +4 rating while logging 16:20 in ice time per game.

In goal, Brian Elliott has emerged as the top goaltender. He secured the win at the season opener and after giving way to Jake Allen for the game in Minnesota, has gained three of the four wins on the trip, allowing just 10 goals. He has a 0.918 save percentage and 2.00 goals against average.

The Blues return to St. Louis after the game against the Canadiens. They continue at home against the New York Islanders on Saturday, October 24^th, Tampa Bay on Tuesday the 27^th, Anaheim on Thursday the 29, Minnesota on Saturday the 31^st and then head into November to host the Los Angeles Kings on the 3^rd. St. Louis heads back out onto the road for a four-game, 9-day road trip against Chicago, Nashville, New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers.