Saturday Pucks

Line combos

McDonald        Backes        Boyes

Kariya            Berglund      Perron

Oshie            McClement   Crombeen

Winchester     Tkachuk       Janssen

Oshie takes the place of injured winger Steen on the checking line. Steen was suppose to be the Blues 9th or 10th best forward, but he was easily one of their top 4 in the early going as he, Tkachuk, Kariya, and McClement are the only 4 forwards that have played well this year. Unbelievably Steen leads the team in SOG with 15 playing on the checking line.

The top line needs to get going now. Backes and Boyes have looked lost this year, while McDonald can play a lot better than he has. The 3 young guys (Berglund, Perron, and Oshie) have been brutal. Berglund has already been benched for one game and has no confidence right now. Perron still draws penalties with his cycling of the puck, but doesn't come close to getting a scoring chance. The Blues have had only 19 PP chances and need to draw more penalties as it appears they need PP goals to win. Oshie has only 4 SOG and is another guy that hasn't created any scoring chances of yet and he hasn't layed that many bodychecks. If the 3 young guys don't get their act together soon, it will be a long year for the Note.

I have written several times that the Blues lack a playmaking center since Murray insists on playing Backes at center and McDonald on the wing. STL is in the bottom 3rd again in SOG per game and really struggle to generate offensive chances at even strength. Anaheim could be their tonic though, because the Ducks give up 35 shots per game as they adjust to life without Pronger and Beauchemin.

The Blues have played horrible in all five of the 1st periods of their games this year being outscored 7-3 in those games. The coach has drilled that into their heads the for the last week, but so far no results. Again the Ducks could remedy this problem as they have also been terrible out of the gate being outscored 5-2 in the 1st periods in their six games. Between the two teams they have managed to score only 5 goals in the 1st period in 11 games. I hope for your sake that at least one goal is scored in the opening period.

The Ducks results have been OK, but obviously they can't be happy with the amount of SOG they are allowing and the fact that their special teams have been poor (Pronger affect). Not a recipe for success.

Ryan Getzlaf is off to another slow start with only 2 assists in 6 games. Last year he had only 1 assist in the first 7 games, before going ballistic. He is ripe for a 3 point game very soon. I'm sure you would like that game tonight.

This series has been a home dominated series, but the line is fairly tight. Your over wager could benefit greatly from the fact that the Blues are still without Jackman on the backend to help out Polak to handle the beef of that top line for the Ducks. I have a feeling Getzlaf and the boys will have no trouble handling the puck around the cage tonight, especially if they can get out there against Sydor, Colaiacovo, and Weaver. The Blues are also ripe for an offensive breakout and playing such a pourus defensive team also helps your cause.

Good luck tonight brother.