The
St. Louis Blues enter their matchup on Saturday against the Ottawa
Senators 30th in the NHL in goal scoring (2.54 goals per game) and
scoring two or fewer in nine of the past 10 games.
They’ve
scored a grand total of 19 the past 10 games (1.9 per game), with the
line game they’ve scored more than two: the Senators, who the Blues
beat 4-3 in come-from-behind fashion on Nov. 28.
And
in an ever-changing lineup for the Blues (9-12-7) where consistency
seems to be a monumental task of achieving, the coaching staff
continues to search for combinations that they hope get them out of
the doldrums of scoring. But when you're also 29th in goals against (3.50) per game, it makes it awfully tough to secure wins, and the Blues are the only team in the league with single-digit wins at this point of the season.
Saturday
was an optional skate, but according to the team, there will be
changes throughout the forward group (listed below).
The
only actual lineup change will be Matthew Kessel going back in on
defense for Tyler Tucker, and with the Blues set for a back-to-back
this weekend, including a Sunday night game against the Montreal
Canadiens, Joel Hofer will get the start on Saturday, with Jordan
Binnington then slated to go on Sunday.
The
Blues’ come-from-behind win against the Senators was their only one
of the season when trailing after two periods, when they were down
2-1 and rallied to score three in the third, a rarity of scoring more
than one goal in a period of late.
It'll be the second of a three-game trip after a poor loss Thursday against the Boston Bruins, 5-2.
- - -
Blues Projected Lineup:
Jake Neighbours-Robert Thomas-Pavel
Buchnevich
Dylan Holloway-Dalibor Dvorsky-Jordan
Kyrou
Pius Suter-Brayden Schenn-Nick
Bjugstad
Aleksanteri Kaskimaki-Oskar
Sundqvist-Mathieu Joseph
Philip Broberg-Colton Parayko
Matthew Kessel-Justin Faulk
Cam Fowler-Logan Mailloux
Joel Hofer will start in goal; Jordan
Binnington will be the backup.
Healthy scratches include Tyler Tucker
and Matt Luff.Jimmy Snuggerud (wrist), Alexey Toropchenko (leg
burns) and Nathan Walker (upper body) are out.
- - -
Senators Projected Lineup:
Brady Tkachuk-Tim Stutzle-Fabian
Zetterlund
David Perron-Dylan Cozens-Drake
Batherson
Michael Amadio-Ridly Greig-Claude
Giroux
Nick Cousins-Stephen Halliday-Hayden
Hodgson
Jake Sanderson-Artem Zub
Tyler Kleven-Jordan Spence
Nikolas Matinpalo-Nick Jensen
Linus Ullmark will start in goal;
Leevi Merilainen will be the backup.
Healthy scratches include Kurtis
MacDermid and Dennis Gilbert. Thomas Chabot (upper body), Lars Eller
(undisclosed) and Shane Pinto (lower body) are out.

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