Season series: Rick Nash's tiebreaking third-period goal gave the New York Rangers a 3-2 victory against the St. Louis Blues on Oct. 9 in the season-opener for each team. Nash has historically enjoyed success against the Blues with 23 goals and 43 points in 51 regular-season games. But the victory came at a cost: Rangers defenseman Dan Boyle sustained a broken hand blocking a shot and hasn't played since. The Blues are 7-0-1 in their past eight visits to Madison Square Garden; the last time they left without a point was a 3-1 loss on Jan. 20, 1998.
Blues team scope: The Blues bring a four-game winning streak to New York for the first of a quick two-game trip; they will visit the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday.
Center Paul Stastny (upper-body) skated at an optional practice Sunday and will travel with the team. He could be ready when the Blues return home Thursday against the Devils or Saturday against the Nashville Predators.
"We're hopeful than it's sooner than later, but I can't give you a defined date right now," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "It's when he's comfortable with everything that he's going to give us the green light, so I don't think he's that far away."
Forward Ryan Reaves (upper body) did not skate one day after taking a high hit from Colorado Avalanche forward John Mitchell on Saturday but will make the trip and be reevaluated Monday.
Goalie Brian Elliott, who made 27 saves in the 3-2 shootout win against the Avalanche, will start for the Blues. St. Louis is 20-5-3 in November during the past two seasons.
Rangers team scope: The Rangers have earned a least a point in five of their past six games (4-1-1) but will have to play without with defenseman Ryan McDonagh (separated shoulder), who will be on injured reserve for the next 3-4 weeks. Defenseman Kevin Klein (foot contusion) was also injured Saturday in a 1-0 shootout loss to the Winnipeg Jets. He won't play Monday and will be further evaluated in the next three or four days, coach Alain Vigneault told BlueshirtsUnited.com. The Rangers recalled defensemen Conor Allen and Dylan McIlrath from the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League on Sunday after going with four defensemen for most of the game against the Jets.
Center Derek Stepan (broken leg) skated Sunday wearing a non-contact jersey. He remains day-to-day but won't play Monday. Boyle returned to the ice for the first time since his injury.
Goalie Cam Talbot will start for the Rangers, giving Henrik Lundqvist the night off. The Rangers placed forward Ryan Malone on waivers Sunday.
Seems like the Rangers are as banged-up as we are, if not more, but we've got the momentum on our side. Add to that Lundqvist sitting out, and things look good. Which always scares me.
My concern is that the Rags are down their entire defense and the court jester (Henrik Lundqvist) isn't playing so, on paper, the Blues SHOULD win this game. Will they see it the same way, take it easy early on and get into a big hole in the first 5 minutes?
That may as well have been a loss against a ragtag group of horribly undermanned misfits. Against that team with that depleted a defense it should have been way more lopsided, not to mention also playing against a backup goalie whose college experience was in freaking Alabama. They should be embarrassed having to rely on a shootout to get it done and come out flying against the Devils.
Aside from the first period, this was a great game. Yes, the Blues didn't play great...but it was still very entertaining...and I'd have still said that had the Blues lost the game.
Talbot and Elliott played extremely well...and all of the goals scored, except for Berglund's goal, were beautiful.
Elliott owned Nash tonight.
That whale flopping-fest where there was a missed open net, then Elliott, Backes, Shattenkirk and Schwartz all made saves while Elliott was on his stomach flailing at the top of the crease was one of the craziest scrambles I have ever seen in front of the net. You see those once in a while, but the puck usually eventually goes in.
Tarasenko seems to be "the sniper" we have been missing for the last 10 years. How great is it to finally have a guy again who is a legitimate threat to score every time he is in the offensive zone? Awesome. Nobody thought he was going to be this good offensively. I think folks thought he might be a 20 goal guy who liked to hit...more of a skilled energy guy...but he is waaaaay more than that. It's not hard to get excited about him.
I'm beyond tired of Berglund. He just doesn't do anything offensively. His goal tonight went off his skate as he was getting up. He never saw it. It's like a broken record with him the past couple years. And even in the years where he had decent numbers, he was horribly inconsistent. I have great faith in Army...but his signing was a head scratcher at the time and it's a head scratcher now. He's just not getting anything done...and I think we all knew this was going to happen. I just don't get it.
And all of this without a couple of key guys in Stastny and Oshie. Crazy.
I just barely missed the Tarasenko goal in real time. My buddy said, "Tarasenko just decided he was gonna score a goal," and that seems to be a pretty good way to describe it. The biggest difference I see in Tarasenko today than when he first came over is that he seems to feel more confident in using his skill. He showed flashes as a rookie and even more last year. But, no way does he score the goal he scored last night in his rookie year.
I don't know if this is a perfect comparison, but it just popped in my head. Last year, DGB (for Mizzou) seemed to have a moment when he finally realized that he's just better than everybody else and started to do his thing. I'm starting to get that feeling from Tarasenko.
glen-it's not as bad as all that...really just statistical regression in regards to eastern teams anyway. And the Blues were completely flat in the first period and just as undermanned as NYR. Finally, vs. EC teams, all that matters is 2 points.
cprice12 wrote:Nobody thought he was going to be this good offensively.
My little brother would argue with that. He's been going on about him since he came over. He's enjoying being able to gloat about this now. That goal was absolutely sick and yes, it did look like he just decided to take it in himself-the kind of thing you see at a Sunday morning pickup. Dmen better learn it: you can't stand still if he's coming at you with the puck. I'm wondering if the Blues don't have one of the very best players in the world of his generation on their hands. I see no holes in his game at this point.
cprice12 wrote:I'm beyond tired of Berglund...his signing was a head scratcher at the time and it's a head scratcher now
I have to continue to believe they want to trade him and will give him premium minutes in hope of getting him on a streak that will generate interest in him. Otherwise, applying Occam's Razor, I have to conclude that at least in this one case Army & Hitch are way, way off in terms of talent evaluation (Sobotka Watch Time! 21 pts [6-15] & +20 after 25 games helping Avangard to 16-5-4 and second place in their conference).
It's like a broken record with him the past couple years. And even in the years where he had decent numbers, he was horribly inconsistent. I have great faith in Army...but his signing was a head scratcher at the time and it's a head scratcher now. He's just not getting anything done...and I think we all knew this was going to happen. I just don't get it.