^{St. Louis is in town trying to make Utah sing the blues…}

After a solid game by the Utah Mammoth on Wednesday, they look to build on their 2 game win streak as the St. Louis Blues come to the Delta Center. This is the third meeting between the clubs, splitting 1-1-0 in St. Louis for their previous two encounters. Schedule making had Utah play both away games against St. Louis in the first half of the season, with the final game coming mid-way through April.

The previous meeting between the Blues and Mammoth was massively overshadowed by the loss of Clayton Keller’s father right before Thanksgiving. With the loss, a back to back, and long road trip, the Mammoth lost 1-0 in a highly emotional game for the captain, and club, at large.

The Blues, in the November 29th game, were one of the three worst teams in the league, and Utah was closing out a miserable November. Since then, both teams have seen some changes; the Blues have crept up to nearly NHL .500, with an 8-9-1 record in 18 games. Their overall metrics are worse, giving up more goals a game, and scoring fewer ones, but their schedule has seen them either blown out, or winning tight games. Winning games against Montreal, Nashville, Winnipeg, Vegas and Chicago with a 1 goal margin, and beating Montreal again 2-0 on Saturday was the norm – only a 6-2 victory over the Panthers was an easy win for them. On the flip side, losing to Chicago last game 7-3, and blowouts like losing 6-1 to Colorado, 7-2 to Nashville, and three 5-2 losses (including another to Nashville) saw their goal differential at -20 for the month, despite a close win/loss stat.

Their most recent stretch, since Christmas, has them at 3-3-0, with a -7 goal differential. Their power play has been abysmal, even for the Blues standards, with under 7% effectiveness. Penalty kill has been in the bottom third of the league, sitting at almost 78%, though 3 goals against came from the beating they took in Chicago which deflated their stats.

The Mammoth are the first stop of a back-to-back for the Blues, who go down to play the Vegas Knights tomorrow. We do not benefit from them being tired, but we will benefit from the strategic use (or disuse) of their lines and goalie situation.

No news on starter tonight, but Jordan Binnington – one of the most punchable players on the league – has been struggling lately. However, as the #1, he may get the nod against Vegas. Joel Hofer, however, has faced Utah twice – posting a shutout on 18 shots, and then giving up halfsies, with 3 goals on 6 shots back in October.

What will we see in net tonight? Spin the wheel – we’ll be in for chaos either way.

Key points to secure a victory today:
All That Jazz The one player to always watch against the St. Louis Blues is Clayton Keller. Keller, the killer, has overperformed and dominated St. Louis in his career, with 38 points in 34 games against them. Considering the last game and taking into account his mental health and situation in the 1-0 loss against in November, Keller’s previous game’s performance was far from a normal game for him.

With Lawson Crouse on the top line on Wednesday, the top line had some high-quality chances, and Keller posted 2 assists. Against a team he’s saved his best play against, expect Keller to be the lead singer of the band.

Exit Stage Right The Blues have dealt with significant injuries so far this season, with Pius Suter, Nick Bjugstad, and Dylan Holloway all still currently out of action. As a result, the Blues have dealt with lines and positions that have either simply struggled to generate chemistry, or have failed to live up to what the Blues expected of them.

With just two players posting double digit points since their last meeting, Utah can focus on the one strength that the Blues have – their left side.

Pavel Buchnevich and Robert Thomas are their leading point producers, with Thomas also their best goal scorer with 6 goals and 14 points to lead the team.

Brayden Schenn (5g, 9p) and Jake Neighbours (4g, 4p) are their respective center and LW on their respective lines. Both have been decent, not great, but far better than both of their right wingers. Jordan Kyrou and Jimmy Snuggerud have both struggled, even considering both had injuries and missed time in December. Accounting for missed time, Kyrou and Snuggerud are each posting .33 points a game, a considerable down stretch for Kyrou who averaged just under 1ppg last year.

Rusty Trombones The Blues have been powered solely by their 5 on 5 play; in 18 games, all but 8 of their goals since the post-Thanksgiving tilt have been full strength goals. Special teams are a major weakness for the Blues – something I said earlier in the year when the New Jersey Devils came to town, but this iteration of the Blues seems far weaker than what Jersey brought to us.

With just 5PPGs in nearly 50 tries, even a beleaguered Mammoth penalty kill should be able to contain the Blues special teams – one that’s been even worse since Santa left them nothing but offensive coal in their stockings. On the flip side, 12 goals against with just over 50 tries, does give Utah some hope for an otherwise struggling power play that went 0-4 against the Senators.

Special teams should favor the Mammoth, so the boys should play an up-tempo game and try to create mismatches that force St. Louis shorthanded as much as possible.

Projected Lineups:
Edit: Updated lineups as of 2PM MST. Yamamoto out, Stenlund in, Kerfoot to wing:

Clayton Keller — Nick Schmaltz — Lawson Crouse
JJ Peterka — Barrett Hayton — Dylan Guenther
Michael Carcone — Jack McBain — Daniil But
Brandon Tanev — Kevin Stenlund — Alexander Kerfoot

Mikhail Sergachev — Sean Durzi
Nate Schmidt — John Marino
Ian Cole — Nick DeSimone

Karel Vejmelka
Vitek Vanecek

Gametime 7PM at the Delta Center.

TUSKS UP!