St. Louis Blues @ Columbus Blue Jackets
Saturday, November 12, 2016 – 7:00 EST
Nationwide Arena, Columbus OH
TV: Fox Sports Ohio – Radio: 97.1 WBNS FM
Opponent’s Blog: St. Louis Game Time
Thursday was terrible. Very terrible.
Columbus, with a winning record, has the second worst Corsi-for percentage in the league. That does not bode well for keeping that momentum going. Columbus needs to work on retaining possession, generating chances, and taking pressure off of their beleaguered defense.
Let’s get started doing that tonight. St. Louis, a formidable opponent who sits second in the Central Division, possesses the puck well but struggles putting it into the net. In their only other matchup (last weekend, as you’ll recall), Curtis McElhinney played well en route to a 2-1 overtime loss. I expect to see a rested Sergei Bobrovsky between the pipes tonight. Here’s hoping he can get back to his winning ways.
Sonny Milano and Markus Hannikainen have been sent down, meaning Brandon Dubinsky will be back in the lineup tonight.
Oh, and Alexander Wennberg leads the NHL in assists this season with thirteen, so that’s cool.
Go Jackets. We’re a strong home team, St. Louis has played poorly on the road, and we’re at NWA tonight. Let’s get a win.
Standings Update
Columbus Blue Jackets, 6-4-2, 14 points, 5th Metro, 10th East
vs.
St. Louis Blues, 7-5-3, 17 points, 2nd Central, 3rd West
Season Series
11/5/16 – CBJ 1 @ STL 2
11/12/16
Stats Matchup
| St. Louis | Columbus | |
|---|---|---|
| 2.20 (27) | GPG | 3.08 (7) |
| 2.53 (14) | GAPG | 2.33 (7) |
| 15.1% (21) | PP% | 32.4% (1) |
| 91.9% (1) | PK% | 91.9% (2) |
| 54.2% (3) | EV CF% | 46.4% (29) |
| 97.7 (24) | EV PDO | 101.8 (7) |
| Vladimir Tarasenko, 5 | G Leader | Nick Foligno /Josh Anderson, 5 |
| Vladimir Tarasenko, 8 | A Leader | Alexander Wennberg, 13 |
| Vladimir Tarasenko, 13 | P Leader | Alexander Wennberg, 14 |
| Alexander Steen, 23 | PIM Leader | Josh Anderson, 17 |
| 2-4-1 | Road / Home | 4-2-0 |
| 4-4-2 | Last 10 | 6-2-2 |
Probable Lineups
Columbus Blue Jackets
| Brandon Saad | Alexander Wennberg | Nick Foligno |
| Boone Jenner | Brandon Dubinsky | Cam Atkinson |
| Scott Hartnell | William Karlsson | Josh Anderson |
| Matt Calvert | Lukas Sedlak | Sam Gagner |
| Zach Werenski | David Savard |
| Ryan Murray | Jack Johnson |
| Markus Nutivaara | Dalton Prout |
| Sergei Bobrovsky |
| Curtis McElhinney |
St. Louis Blues
| Jaden Schwartz | Jori Lehtera |
Vladimir Tarasenko |
| Alexander Steen | Patrik Berglund | David Perron |
| Dmitrij Jaskin | Paul Stastny | Nail Yakupov |
| Scottie Upshall | Kyle Brodziak | Ryan Reaves |
| Jay Bouwmeester | Alex Pietrangelo |
| Carl Gunnarsson | Kevin Shattenkirk |
| Petteri Lindbohm | Colton Parayko |
| Jake Allen |
| Carter Hutton |