The St. Louis Blues avoided a three-game losing streak on Tuesday night, defeating the Winnipeg Jets 2-1. They made a handful of changes to the defensive pairings and called up two forwards due to injuries.
St. Louis is running it back with the same lines, pairings, and goaltender when the Vegas Golden Knights come to the Enterprise Center for a Western Conference showdown.
Tuesday night, Philip Broberg got a new partner at the blue line and put pressure on the offensive end. Head Coach Jim Montgomery said that his blue liner has turned it up to “Lamborghini style” the last couple of games.
Blues Forward Lines
Dylan Holloway – Robert Thomas – Jimmy Snuggerud
Connor McMichael – Mason McTavish – Jonatan Berggren
Jake Neighbours -Dalibor Dvorsky – Pavel Buchnevich
Aleksanteri Kaskimaki – Pius Suter -Otto Stenberg
The Blues’ second line has been playing like their first line all season long. McTavish is a point-per-game player and looks like the third overall selection he was for the Anaheim Ducks.
McMichael has been stellar with him, six points in the first nine games, two goals and four assists. While the second line has had two primary third members, the most consistent has been Berggren, who has four points in nine games.
That is 19 combined points from the Blues’ second line, one more than the combined total of their top line. If Holloway can find the back of the net and the second line continues to fuel the fire, the Blues’ top six can hang with most of the league.
Blues Defense Pairings
Philip Broberg – Justin Barron
Adam Jiricek – Colton Parayko
Cam Fowler – Brandon Carlo
When Broberg and Holloway came over from the Edmonton Oilers after Doug Armstrong offer-sheeted the pair, both were young, inexperienced players. The pair now sport an “A” on their chest and are locked in for the long haul with St. Louis.
Broberg specifically has made the jump to being a top pair defenseman with offensive capabilities. St. Louis has not had someone with those abilities since Alex Pietrangelo left after winning the Stanley Cup.
Joel Hofer Gets Nod For Blues Between The Pipes
Joel Hofer will once again get the start between the pipes as Stanley Cup-winning goaltender and Blues all-time wins leader Jordan Binnington will watch from the bench again.
This will be Hofer’s seventh start of the young season. It looks as though the Blues are truly working their way towards Hofer taking the traditional starter role instead of their 1A/1B approach with the pair.
Hofer has three wins on the season and has a goals-against average of 2.19. A tough task awaits the Blues goaltender as the highest-scoring offense in goals per game comes to St. Louis.
Blues Run It Back With Same Lines Against Golden Knights