BREAKING NEWS

Ty Conklin has cleared waivers.  Looks like the Blues have a decision to make between him and Ben Bishop.

UPDATE:  Blues have traded Brad Winchester to the Anaheim Ducks for a third round pick in 2012.  Ryan Reaves and Chris Porter have been called up from Peoria.

UPDATE: The Blues have announced that Phil McRae has been placed on IR – McRae suffered a knee injury in the Vancouver game.

Injury Update

The Blues have announced that TJ Oshie will miss a minimum of three months following his ankle surgery yesterday. Doug Armstrong said that the Blues would not “immediately” look outside the organisation.

In Jeremy Rutherford’s weekly chat, he gave a brief timetable for return on the Blues’ injured stars:

Perron – didn’t skate today. I would think he’s doubtful for Saturday and Monday. Could come back next week at the earliest.
Colaiacovo – skated today. Told reporters he might be available Monday.
Winchester – skated briefly today. Still day to day, but doubtful this weekend.
Jackman: Thanksgiving at the earliest. The Blues said he would be re-evaluated then, not necessarily ready.
Polak: 6-8 more weeks.

Perron out tonight

The Blues have confirmed that David Perron will not play in the game at Boston tonight. Perron is suffering from headaches stemming from the hit by Joe Thornton in the Sharks game on Thursday. This breaks a run of 167 consecutive games.

No word on whether Perron will be available for tomorrow’s game against the Rangers.

So, do certain media types and others still think Perron was “faking it”?

No word on the lineup yet – and it appears that Winchester is out too. Janssen is likely to take Winchester’s place and Nikita Nikitin will play his first game, taking Jackman’s place. It’s possible the Blues may well dress 7 d-men.

UPDATE: Blues have recalled Nick Drazenovic from Peoria. Whether this means that Perron will be out for more than one game is open to speculation.

Flyers 1 – Blues 2 (OT)

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What a season opener! Not only was there a sellout crowd and the unveilling of the new Brett Hull statue outside Scottrade, but the Blues managed a very well deserved win.

The Blues came out hard and created chance after chance – only to be denied by the impressive Brian Boucher in the Flyers goal. There were 6 penalties in the first period with both teams getting 5 on 3 chances. The Blues took advantage and opened the scoring with 4 minutes left in the first period. An Erik Johnson laser of a shot was deflected by Boyes past Brian Boucher. Good to see Brad Boyes on the scoresheet so early in the season. The Flyers briefly came back at the end of the period but Halak stood strong and the Blues went in at intermission 1-0 up, having been outshot 9-6.

The second period saw the penalty count increase – 11 in all – but neither team could take advantage. Near the end of the period however, an almost game changing moment occured. Cam Janssen went for an innocent looking hit on Oskars Bartulis along the boards when he was absolutely levelled by teammate, Brad Winchester. Janssen was struck by Winchester’s elbow, forearm and stick, his head hitting the ice as he fell. Janssen was helped from the ice and didn’t return – mystifyingly being given a 2 minute charging penalty that was served by Matt D’Agostini. What was Winchester thinking, going for that hit? And why on earth can’t he hit opposition players like that?

It was a game changing moment – because when Janssen left the ice, the Blues lost a bit of momentum, they lost energy. The Blues were still playing well but suffered from a lack of confidence in front of goal – seemingly preferring to pass rather than shoot.

The third period saw the Blues outshot 14-6. They simply didn’t have the movement and creativity that they had in the first two periods. Jaroslav Halak made some excellent saves (but he really has to watch those rebounds) and the defence were throwing themselves in front of shots. Inevitably, something had to give and the Flyers tied the game through Daniel Briere who gave Halak no chance. It was Briere’s second goal in two games. The game went into overtime but not before David Perron almost sealed it for the Blues in the final few seconds – only being denied by another excellent save from Boucher.

For those of us used to the Blues attitude in overtime last season, this game was an eye opener. No longer were the Blues content to sit back and “play” for a shootout. They were aggressive, taking the game to the Flyers. Following Daniel Briere’s shot hitting the post, Barret Jackman sent the puck up the ice to Alex Steen, who had a couple of shots at Boucher before Carlo Colaiacovo smashed a rebound into the net. The Scottrade Center exploded with delight – and there’s a nice new touch with smoke coming out of the scoreboard when the Blues score.

A few points about the game:

• Blues powerplay – too many tic-tac-toe passes and not enough shots. They went 1 for 10 which is simply not good enough.
• The Blues penalty kill worked very well, blocking shots and not being drawn out of position.
• Alex Pietrangelo – didn’t look out of place.  Some very nice touches – he deserves to be here.
• Cam Janssen – was a ball of energy out on the ice, dispensing hits and even at one point found himself in front of net with the puck on his stick.  His shot was saved by Boucher.
• Matt D’Agostini – played well on a really good and energetic fourth line.
• The Blues defense deserve a pat on the back for their work and great shot blocking during the game.

A great start for the Blues – with Jaroslav Halak named player of the game.   Cam Janssen was kept in hospital overnight and I’ll update his condition as it develops.

Next up, Anaheim at 1pm St Louis time, 6pm UK time on Monday.  I’ll leave you with last night’s OT and Colaiacovo’s wonderful goal celebration:

Blues re-sign Brad Winchester

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The Blues have re-signed Brad Winchester to a one year, $700,000 contract. Winchester played 64 games last season, managing three goals and five assists.

The Blues have re-signed him because they needed “size and power”. Let’s hope Winchester finally starts to USE his size…

Blues 5 – Blackhawks 6

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This game was a perfect microcosm of the Blues season.  Started well – scoring first in fact – then a complete collapse…then a miracle comeback that JUST fell short.  I don’t know whether this was a bit of a hangover from the realisation that they are out of the playoffs but at least they played with anger and passion in the latter stages of the second period and all of the third.

The Blues scored first – a backhander from David Perron after just under 5 minutes of the first period.  Then it all went wrong.  The Blackhawks suddenly couldn’t stop scoring – three goals in just under two minutes that chased Chris Mason from the crease.  Mason gave up three goals on four shots but, to be fair, the defense DID rather hang him out to dry on one or two.  Ty Conklin took over and shortly afterwards the Blackhawks went further ahead, scoring a shorthanded goal.   The Blues went in at the end of the first period 4-1 down.

The second period didn’t start very well either as midway through the period the Blues found themselves on the wrong side of a 6-1 scoreline.  However, that’s when the anger seemed to kick in.  Roman Polak scored with less than five minutes left in the period to pull it back to 6-2.

In the final period, it was all Blues as they outshot the Blackhawks 13-4.  Brad Winchester and TJ Oshie both scored and the Blues were suddenly 6-4 down.  A penalty shot taken by Brad Boyes pulled it to 6-5 with less than a minute left.  It was too little too late however and the Blackhawks grabbed a very thankful two points.

Anyway – your game reports:

• The Blues Official Site has the recap and game highlights.
• St Louis Game Time point out the similarities between the game and the Blues’ season.

Blues @ Blue Jackets

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Well, a few bits of news prior to tonight’s game.   Eric Brewer has been placed on IR – retroactive to 25 Nov.  Carlo Colaiacovo took a puck off the foot on Saturday and is unable to play tonight.  The Blues have called up Jonas Junland from Peoria and Junland will play in Colaiacovo’s place tonight.  Why not insert Alex Pietrangelo?  Because Pietrangelo is a right handed shot – Junland and Colaiacovo are left handed – and Junland can take Colaiacovo’s place on the left point of the powerplay – something he’s used to in Peoria.  That’s the explanation from the Blues anyway – courtesy of Jeremy Rutherford of the Post-Dispatch.

Patrik Berglund is also in the lineup tonight after being a healthy scratch for the previous three games. I’m looking forward to seeing how he responds – and personally, I prefer him in the lineup over Winchester at the moment. Winchester doesn’t use his size to his advantage yet – he doesn’t play mean enough and drifts out of the game. Drifting out of the game is a charge that can be levelled at Berglund but I prefer to think that he’s a young player, still finding his feet and he’ll get there. It just takes patience. Anyway – lineup for tonight is:

David Perron-Andy McDonald-Brad Boyes
Paul Kariya-David Backes-T.J. Oshie
Alex Steen-Jay McClement-B.J. Crombeen
Patrik Berglund-Keith Tkachuk-Cam Janssen

Darryl Sydor-Erik Johnson
Barret Jackman-Roman Polak
Jonas Junland-Mike Weaver

Chris Mason once again gets the start in goal – Blues playing the hot handed number 1 goalie.

Source: Jeremy Rutherford

Red Wings @ Blues

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Chris Mason to get the start tonight…

Well, according to Jeremy Rutherford, the Blues lineup will remain the same as the one that triumphed in Nashville – with one possible exception. If the Red Wings do NOT dress Brad May…then Patrik Berglund could get a start and Brad Winchester would sit out. However, it’s looking likely that Brad May will be playing tonight so expect Winchester in the Blues lineup.

Eric Brewer is still out and Bernie Miklasz has twittered that Chris Mason is expected to play tonight. A bit of a surprising move – considering he had a tough game last night. It’s odd that Ty Conklin isn’t given the start tonight – he played well in the Premiere game against his old team.

Blues @ Stars

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Can Paul Kariya break out of his slump?

Lots of questions ahead of tonight’s game against the Stars. One of the main ones being can the Blues awful Powerplay finally start putting the puck in the net? The Blues practice this morning concentrated heavily on the powerplay – let’s see if it starts producing. A change of personnel – or maybe reverting back to the “umbrella” formation that worked last year – whatever they do, SOMETHING needs to happen to break the Blues forwards out of this slump. We have good players – there’s no question about that – so maybe it’s simply a matter of time. Given time, quality players like Paul Kariya, will start scoring. It’s just a question of when – and with the season already 25% over (and the Blues currently last in the Central Division – 6 points behind the fourth placed Red Wings) – there’s not a lot of time left. It’s all very well proposing a trade…but who is out there who can help? Who would be worth chasing at this point? And more importantly…who would we give up?

Anyway – tonight’s game. It’s going to be physical. There is no doubt about that – especially considering the Steve Ott factor from the last Blues/Stars game. As such, the Blues are sitting out Patrik Berglund tonight and replacing him with Brad Winchester. Let’s hope Winchester plays mean. The rest of the lineup remains the same – with Ty Conklin getting the start in goal tonight.

Sources: Dan O’Neill and Chris Kerber

Bruins @ Blues

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Can David Backes get things going again tonight?

We all know what happened last season in the Blues game against the Bruins. The Blues won in a shootout after tying the game in the last second. The Blues then went on that amazing run in the second half of the season that culminated in a playoff appearance. The Blues are coming off back to back wins – with Patrik Berglund, Paul Kariya and BJ Crombeen breaking out of no point streaks. Is this the start of good things for the Blues? Let’s hope so. Tonight’s lineup is the same as the one that beat the Islanders 4-1 on Saturday:

David Perron-Andy McDonald-Brad Boyes
Paul Kariya-David Backes-T.J. Oshie
Patrik Berglund-Jay McClement-B.J. Crombeen
Alex Steen-Keith Tkachuk-Cam Janssen

Barret Jackman-Roman Polak
Carlo Colaiacovo-Erik Johnson
Eric Brewer-Mike Weaver

Chris Mason

Once again, Darryl Sydor, Brad Winchester and Alex Pietrangelo are healthy scratches.

Source: Jeremy Rutherford