Game 38
Buffalo Sabres (21-11-5) vs St. Louis Blues (14-6-4)
Puck Drop: 8:00 PM | Enterprise Center | St. Louis, MO
TV: MSG-B
Radio: WGR 550
SB Nation Blues blog: St. Louis Game Time
Know Your Opponent
St. Louis Blues
Record: (14-16-4) | 32 points
Last 10: 5-4-1
Division Ranking: 6th in the Central Division
Conference Ranking: 13th in the Western Conference
PP: 12th (21.7%)
PK: 10th (82.2%)
What to watch for
1. Old Friends
Tonight will be the first time the Sabres and Blues meet since the big trade back in July. Ryan O’Reilly will face his former teammates as the leading scorer on the Blues. He has 13 goals and 32 points in 34 games. However, the Blues are stuck at the bottom of the NHL standings with a variety of issues.
The other pieces of the trade, Vladimir Sobotka, Tage Thompson, and Carter Hutton will also make their returns to St. Louis tonight.
2. Score
The Sabres have had some issues putting the puck in the net recently, but that shouldn’t be a problem tonight. The Blues have allowed the sixth most goals against per game (3.32) in the NHL. Jake Allen has struggled with a .900 save percentage and Chad Johnson was waived by the Blues a few weeks ago because of his inability to stop pucks consistently.
3. Get on a roll
After tonight the Sabres have a big seven-game stretch against Eastern Conference clubs who are close to them in the standings. A win tonight will be a good start going into the games over the next few weeks that could put the Sabres in great position for the second-half playoff push.
Buffalo Sabres
Forwards (unconfirmed)
Jeff Skinner – Jack Eichel – Sam Reinhart
Conor Sheary – Vladimir Sobotka – Evan Rodrigues
Remi Elie – Casey Mittelstadt – Kyle Okposo
Zemgus Girgensons – Johan Larsson – Tage Thompson
Defense
Rasmus Dahlin – Zach Bogosian
Lawrence Pilut – Rasmus Ristolainen
Marco Scandella – Jake McCabe
Starting Goaltender: Carter Hutton (unconfirmed)
St. Louis Blues
Forwards
Jaden Schwartz – Brayden Schenn – Vladimir Tarasenko
Alex Steen – Ryan O’Reilly – David Perron
Patrick Maroon – Tyler Bozak – Robert Thomas
Jordan Nolan – Ivan Barbashev – Zach Sanford
Defense
Joel Edmundson – Colton Parayko
Jay Bouwmeester – Robert Bortuzzo
Vince Dunn – Chris Butler
Starting Goaltender: Jake Allen