BLUES The St. Louis Blues beat the Flames 3-0 on Thursday night in Calgary, beginning their back-to-back set on a high note. Joel Hofer stopped 27 shots as he earned the first shutout of his NHL career. Hofer shared a shutout with Thomas Greiss last season - he had to exit for 2:36 due to an equipment issue - but the 23-year-old goaltender got sole possession of the shutout this time.
"(Hofer) was solid - when he had to make saves, he made them," said Craig Berube. "I thought he was impressive and played the puck really well; he was dialed in tonight."
Aside from starting Hofer in goal, Craig Berube switched up his lineup to go with 11 forwards and seven defensemen - seeing positive results to the tune of a season-high 35 shots on goal and the shutout win.
Robert Bortuzzo and Scott Perunovich made their season debuts as part of the lineup changes, the former becoming the 16th player in Blues history to suit up in 10 seasons with the franchise.
The Blues will have to quickly turn around for Friday night's back-to-back conclusion against the Canucks. After that, a four-day break awaits as they won't play again until Wednesday when they face the Colorado Avalanche in a nationally-televised matchup.
They'll visit the Canucks with a record of 3-2-1, worth seven points and fourth in the Central Division.
CANUCKS The Vancouver Canucks are looking to turn a corner in their rebuild process, off to a strong start behind a group of growing stars.
Veteran JT Miller is still a top contributor, with Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes continuing their rise as young leaders. After a 38-37-7 season in which they traded away then-captain Bo Horvat to the New York Islanders, Vancouver is off to a good start in the new year.
The Canucks opened their season with an impressive 8-1 win over Edmonton led by a four-goal night from Brock Boeser. Apart from a shutout loss in Philadelphia, Vancouver has scored at least three goals in all of their other games so far - winning their last two against Florida and Nashville, respectively.
On Tuesday against the Predators, Vancouver held Nashville to just 17 shots on goal andcame out on top 3-2 to earn goaltender Thatcher Demko the second win of his seventh season in Vancouver.
Hosting the Blues in the first of a three-game homestand, the Canucks will face the Rangers on Saturday to conclude their own back-to-back set before a rematch with Nashville on Halloween.
They'll face the Blues with a record of 4-2-0, worth eight points and second place in the Pacific Division.
HEAD TO HEAD The Blues went 2-0-1 against the Canucks last season and have earned a point in their last six matchups. The season series continues on Jan. 4 in St. Louis and finishes on Jan. 24 back in Vancouver.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
BLUES Kasperi Kapanen, who raced up the ice for a shorthanded goal to open the scoring in Calgary. Kapanen, claimed off of waivers by the Blues midway through last season, has three points in his last three games.
CANUCKS Quinn Hughes, who was named the 15th captain in Vancouver Canucks history this offseason. The first defenseman to earn the title in Vancouver since 1990-91, Hughes recorded a career-high 76 points last season and shared No. 5 in the NHL with 69 assists.
BLUE NOTES
At 23 years, 88 days old, Joel Hofer became the third-youngest goaltender in Blues history to record a shutout on Thursday night.
The Blues have scored three or more goals in five of their last six matchups with the Canucks, outscoring Vancouver 24-14 over that span. The Blues have also allowed the Canucks just one goal in three of their last six matchups
Friday night marks the first of the 10 back-to-back sets the Blues will play this season, another also including matchups at Calgary and Vancouver on Jan. 23-24. Over the last two seasons, the Blues are 12-9-4 (.560 point percentage) when playing the second game of a back-to-back set.
According to NHL EDGE advanced statistics, the Blues are in the 93rd percentile of all NHL teams in average shot speed, with the average Blues shot traveling at 56.24 miles per hour.
The Blues have taken the least amount of penalties in the NHL so far this season, averaging just 6:50 penalty minutes per game (3.08 penalties taken). If this figure holds, it would be a franchise record - set in 2019-20 at 7:13 penalty minutes per game.
With back-to-back games (and a late night flight to Vancouver), the St. Louis Blues are not practicing before their Friday night matchup with the Vancouver Canucks (9 p.m. CT, Bally Sports, 101 ESPN).
Because of that, our projected lineup below assumes that Blues Head Coach Craig Berube will not make any lineup changes with the exception of Jordan Binnington returning to the net.
Berube will meet with reporters closer to game time, and if he announces any lineup changes, they will be adjusted here.
PROJECTED LINEUP
Brandon Saad - Robert Thomas - Jordan Kyrou
Pavel Buchnevich - Brayden Schenn - Kasperi Kapanen
Alexey Toropchenko - Kevin Hayes - Sammy Blais
Oskar Sundqvist - Jake Neighbours
Nick Leddy - Colton Parayko
Torey Krug - Justin Faulk
Marco Scandella - Robert Bortuzzo
Scott Perunovich
Jordan Binnington
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Not that surprised given a Vancouver team rested at home which hasn't played since Tuesday vs a Blues team playing on back-to-back nights on a road trip. Calgary to Vancouver is still a 1 hour 40 minute flight that's happening at some ludicrous hour after having played a game.
We'll see how they look vs Colorado on Wednesday vs an offense designed to break down the zone defense the Blues are using.
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