GDT#37: 12/30/11 > Blues vs Preds > 7:00 PM > FSMW/KMOX

[dmiles2186]

Before the St. Louis Blues can look forward to their second trip to Detroit in five days, they must first focus on continuing their dominance at home.

The Blues seek their seventh straight victory at the Scottrade Center on Friday night when they look to defeat the Nashville Predators for the first time in three tries this season.

St. Louis (21-11-4) will travel back to face Detroit on Saturday after falling 3-2 at Joe Louis Arena on Tuesday. The Blues let a two-goal lead slip away, falling behind when the Red Wings scored twice in a 56-second span in the third period.

"They dialed it up in the third and forced us into making mistakes," coach Ken Hitchcock said.

The Blues dropped into third place in the Central Division behind Chicago and the Red Wings, while Brian Elliott fell to 14-4-0 - still with a Western Conference-best 1.63 goals-against average - after making 29 saves.

"You're up on the road, you've just got to finish, playing a clear, concise game," Elliott said. "We didn't do what we needed to do in the third period and that cost us."

It will be interesting to see how Hitchcock uses his goalies in this set of games on back-to-back nights. He started Jaroslav Halak in Monday's 5-3 home win over Dallas.

Elliott is 8-1-0 with a 1.33 GAA at home this season, and 1-1-0 with a 2.03 GAA in two career starts against Nashville. Halak has been in goal for both meetings with the Predators this season, posting an 0-1-1 mark and a 1.94 GAA after going 6-1-1 with a 1.71 GAA in his eight previous starts against them.

The Blues are 14-3-1 at home, where they last won seven straight within a single season Dec. 28, 2001-Jan. 19, 2002.

"They're a big team and they play really well at home so I think we're getting our confidence up, it's going to be big to have a big one against them," Predators center Colin Wilson said.

Nashville (19-14-4) continues to play without top defenseman Shea Weber, the team captain and points leader with 29. Weber is out indefinitely with a concussion.

The Predators won for the second time in five games with Wednesday's 2-1 shootout victory against Minnesota. Pekka Rinne made 34 saves and stopped all three attempts in the shootout after conceding 12 goals over his previous three starts.

"Everyone is playing really well, and that's what we need," defenseman Ryan Suter said. "It all starts with Pekka."

Rinne has started both 2011-12 meetings with St. Louis, posting a 1.44 GAA. He is 10-5-2 with a 1.95 GAA against the Blues while backup Anders Lindback has won his lone career start versus St. Louis.

The Predators remain one of the league's top power-play teams at 21.1 percent despite going 0 for 8 in their last two games. They are 2 for 4 against St. Louis this season, although Weber assisted on one of the goals - one of his 13 points among Nashville's 27 goals with the man advantage.

The Blues, meanwhile, continue to own one of the NHL's worst power plays at 13.1 percent, although the unit has shown improvement by going 4 for 6 over the last two games.

[glen a richter]

A must win.

Blues 2
Preds 4

[gaijin]

A must win.

Sure feels like it, but not the end of the world if we drop it.

That said,

[DaDitka]

Taking my 10 year old to her first game since she was too small to actually watch.

Hope to show her a win...hell a shut out even, then I'd have two $5 coupons to Dirt Cheap.

Blues 4
Preds 0

Oh sh*t, Halak is in the nets

Blues 4
Preds 3

At least we still get Big Mac's.

[SamJunior]

If Elliott plays:

Blues 7
Preds 1

If Halak:

Blues 7
Preds 4

Sobotka and Langenbrunner return to the lineup tonight.

[goon attack]

Sexual Predators 1
Blues 6 (Polak, Sobie, Stew, Crombeen, Backes 2)

[drwoland]

LETS DOO THIIISSSSS

They better be mad as (Frank) after that Detroit loss and roll on the predators.

Blues 4
Preds 1

[Cavallinis]

Blues 3
Mustards 2

Cole gets at least an assist.

[Ron Finger]

They better score lots of goals or Hitch is going to have their hats for breakfast.

[ViPeRx007]

Steen is out with concussion-like symptoms....

This concussion stuff is getting old.

On the bright side, Oshie and Langenbrunner are supposed to be back tonight.

[kodos]

Didn't Oshie have a concussion in his hand? I'm surprised they are letting him back so soon.

[philco_3]

St. Louis VS Crapsville

2-1 win.

[crazyhorse]

Oshie and Sabotka in the line-up tonight....sweeet!

[PGABluesFan]

HOW DID HALAK NOT COVER THAT?????????????

[AlsWoodenStick]

I'm visiting family in Chicago this weekend so I can't see the game. What's worse is that the only NHL game on here is Hawks-Wings. Who should I root for/hate less?

[SamJunior]

I'm visiting family in Chicago this weekend so I can't see the game. What's worse is that the only NHL game on here is Hawks-Wings. Who should I root for/hate less?

You should hate the Wings less this time.

And there's a FS-MW feed, I post it here if you want.

[cardsfan04]

I'm visiting family in Chicago this weekend so I can't see the game. What's worse is that the only NHL game on here is Hawks-Wings. Who should I root for/hate less?

Maybe root for a power outage so that neither team can win?

[cardsfan04]

I don't want to make too big of a deal out of this but Stewart seems to be having a pretty decent game. Maybe he's turning the corner?

I mean, I haven't seen anything spectacular. But, for much of the season he's just been an empty roster spot seemingly afraid of making a mistake. He would get the puck and just try to get rid of it real quick w/o trying to make anything happen. Tonight it seems like he's actually trying to create chances, which could be a good sign.

Also, completely shifting gears, can the Blues fail to capitalize on an empty net with the puck going through the crease any more? It seems like that's happening once every couple of minutes with nobody there to clean it up.

[Oaklandblue]

I don't want to make too big of a deal out of this but Stewart seems to be having a pretty decent game. Maybe he's turning the corner?

I mean, I haven't seen anything spectacular. But, for much of the season he's just been an empty roster spot seemingly afraid of making a mistake. He would get the puck and just try to get rid of it real quick w/o trying to make anything happen. Tonight it seems like he's actually trying to create chances, which could be a good sign.

Also, completely shifting gears, can the Blues fail to capitalize on an empty net with the puck going through the crease any more? It seems like that's happening once every couple of minutes with nobody there to clean it up.

My perception on Stewart is that Hitch told him to knock it off and play right or become the team's official seat warmer. I thought the same way as you but after watching a few clips of Stewart, I think attitude was the issue and seems to be with some of this group.

I think Hitch's greatest hurdle with this team is to get them to do what he tells them to do and not play the Primadonna card. I feel like there's some key pieces of this team that keep playing it. Injury or the fear of reinjuring themselves could possibly be part of this, so their play slows down but they get paid to play, so um, play?

[AlsWoodenStick]

I'm visiting family in Chicago this weekend so I can't see the game. What's worse is that the only NHL game on here is Hawks-Wings. Who should I root for/hate less?

You should hate the Wings less this time.

And there's a FS-MW feed, I post it here if you want.

If you still have it that would be awesome. Everyone is watching "Water for Elephants" so save me