It’s funny how quickly, and dramatically, the narratives can change early in the season.
The Blues won a close game and lost in a shootout in their first two games of the season, being heavily outshot but with general “Hey, this is working” reviews of their advertised new approach to defense.
Then they absolutely laid an egg, at home, to the traveling Coyotes, and all the worst fears came back.
It’s hard to say that their defense was terrible in the blowout loss to Arizona, because everything was horrible. A team looking, or at least needing, to show that it has turned over a new leaf came out like it wasn’t all that interested in playing.
A big response is needed and no doubt demanded by the Saturday night home crowd as the skilled but aging Pittsburgh Penguins visit. The Penguins are 2-2-0 and vying to convince everyone they can still hang in the Metropolitan Division. It’ll be our first time seeing Erik Karlsson in a Penguins jersey, but he’s a familiar foe from his days stranded in San Jose.
The Blues, of course, are still without their best all-around player in Pavel Buchnevich: the one guy they really couldn’t afford to lose, based on how they looked during his absences last year. Here’s hoping Joran Kyrou and Robert Thomas find a pulse without him.
Blues Projected Lines:
Brandon Saad — Robert Thomas — Jordan Kyrou
Alexey Toropchenko — Brayden Schenn — Kasperi Kapanen
Jakub Vrana — Kevin Hayes — Sammy Blais
Nikita Alexandrov — Oskar Sundqvist — Jake Neighbours
Nick Leddy — Colton Parayko
Torey Krug — Justin Faulk
Marco Scandella — Tyler Tucker
Jordan Binnington
Joel Hofer
Penguins Projected Lines:
Jake Guentzel — Sidney Crosby — Bryan Rust
Reilly Smith — Evgeni Malkin — Rickard Rakell
Drew O’Connor — Lars Eller — Matt Nieto
Radim Zohorna — Noel Acciari — Jeff Carter
Ryan Graves — Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson — Erik Karlsson
Ryan Shea — Chad Ruhwedel
Tristan Jarry
Alex Nedeljkovic