Blues make one defensive change in tonight’s lineup
As it turns out, there will be only one change on defense tonight for the Blues, and that will be the return of Carlo Colaiacovo to the lineup. Darryl Sydor will be a healthy scratch for the second time in four games.
On Friday, the defensive pairings in practice led one to believe that Alex Pietrangelo would be back in the lineup. He was paired with Eric Brewer, while Darryl Sydor was paired with Mike Weaver.
San Jose has 67 goals this season, which is the most in the Western Conference and the second-most in the NHL, behind Washington (73), so it appears that Blues coach Andy Murray is factoring in the Sharks’ high-octane attack in deciding to keep Pietrangelo in the press box.
I asked Murray yesterday, “Now that all eight defensemen are healthy and ready to play, what goes into the decision of who to play?”
“A lot of different things,” Murray said.
Such as?
“Who’s playing well?” Murray said. “How are we defending? How much are we generating? All the different components.”
Colaiacovo admitted that the competition on defense has picked up in recent days.
“It has to . . . there’s no other choice,” he said. ”It makes sure that guys are playing their ‘A’ game every night and doing the right thing to stay in the lineup. It’s not always a fun thing to go through, but it keeps the competition level up. It is what it is. Fortunately, we have eight great guys that can get in there any night . . . we’re all pulling for each other, want the best for each other, and at the end of the day, it’s all about winning.”
So the defensive pairings tonight will be . . .
Barret Jackman-Roman Polak
Carlo Colaiacovo-Erik Johnson
Eric Brewer-Mike Weaver
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Patrik Berglund’s ice time has been dwindling in the last three games and tonight he finds himself on the Blues’ checking line.
Berglund, who has just two goals and two assists in 16 games, has not registered a point in his last seven games and has just one point (an assist against Carolina) in his last 10 games.
As a result, Berglund has seen a decrease in ice time. He played 8:45 against Atlanta, 13:19 against Vancouver and 11:14 against Nashville.
“Patrik cares a lot,” Murray said. “He’s probably better than any of our young players at self-analysis. When he watches a clip, he gets it. And he knows right now what he has to do . . . he’s just not doing it yet. He’s really good with self-analysis. There is a lot of pride there. He wants to be better. He really gets it. Some young guys don’t get it. That’s why you like him, that’s why you want him to be successful. Ultimately (though), it’s result-based and he’s got to get the results for us.”
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These were the forward combinations in practice Friday . . .
David Perron-Andy McDonald-Brad Boyes
T.J. Oshie-Keith Tkachuk-David Backes
Paul Kariya-Jay McClement-B.J. Crombeen
Brad Winchester-Patrik Berglund-Cam Janssen
I think the McDonald line and the Berglund line will hold true in the game tonight, but keep an eye on those other lines when the puck drops. I heard it from more than one person this morning that the Blues might have something up their sleeve to counter the Sharks’ top line of Dany Heatley, Joe Thornton and Devin Setoguchi. Thornton has two goals and 15 assists in his last eight games against the Blues.
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The Sharks have called up forward Logan Couture for tonight’s game? Why is that important?
In the 2007 NHL draft, the Blues had the No. 9 overall pick. They traded that pick to San Jose for the No. 13 pick and No. 44 pick that year. The Sharks took Couture and the Blues went on to take Lars Eller at No. 13 and Aaron Palushaj No. 44.
Couture has posted one goal and one assist in seven games with San Jose this season. He has five goals and eight assist in eight games with Worcester in the American Hockey League.
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Eller, of course, was sent back to Peoria on Friday. Eller had one goal in five games with the Blues. His ice time had dropped to 6 minutes against Nashville Thursday.
Asked if Eller’s play had slipped, Murray said: “Yeah, I think we saw that. It’s tough to analyze in a game like (Thursday’s) with the way the shifting went. I think the bottom line with Lars, what we took out of this was, we were encouraged. The thought was to get Lars into some games. We felt his play had dropped off somewhat and he wasn’t being used as much as he needed to be used, in terms of his development. It’s more important for him to get minutes in Peoria right now.”
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Injury update:
- Alex Steen (wrist) started practicing with the Blues on Friday. He is wearing an orange “no” contact jersey.
- D.J. King (hand) said today that he will get the pins out of his hand in about three weeks. He’s hoping to return by Christmas.
JR
MURRAY’S SYSTEM IS A BLACK HOLE FROM WHICH ONCE TALENTED PLAYERS FLUSH THEIR RESPECTIVE CAREERS DOWN THE TOILET. Recently, Murray stated “Paul Kariya, is battling on every puck and is our best forward”. Really Aye? Clearly, statements such as this suggest Murray is completely incompetent and may well be blind. Paul Kariya is a complete bum and should retire. He is totally ineffective on the ice. Kariya is a coward and refuses to venture into the high-traffic areas needed to score goals in the NHL. Instead, Kariya just figure skates around the perimeter ala Disney on Ice. If Murray can’t see this he needs to take his head out of the sand. CHECKETT’S AND JD NEED TO LET MURRAY GO.
Actually, loser, Murray’s quote was in regards to the Nashville game specifically… and it went like this:
“We didn’t play hard enough. We had a goaltender (Mason), who played in Nashville … (and) was doing everything he could to make sure we had a chance to win. Paul Kariya, another former Nashville player, is battling on every puck and is our best forward. We don’t have enough other guys going.”
Nowhere has Murray claimed that Kariya has been our best forward this season…but in the Nashville game, it is definitely arguable that Kariya was among our best forwards. So if you’re going to use quotes, put them in context, moron.
Viva La Zombo,
Frankie Bofa
Frankiebofa– What’s up? You could have said what you said without the insults and folks would have thought you were intelligent and had a point.
Buy insulting another blogger with negative adjectives such as loser, and idiot, guess what you make yourself look like?
intellect first,
I completely agree with you. I truly do. I only included those words, because Billy had to resort to calling Kariya a “bum” and “coward” and calling Murray “incompetent” and “blind” in the middle of his post. The way I see it, if Billy is going to misuse a quote, and then toss out insults on top of it, he should be able to take it.
Viva La Zombo,
Frankie Bofa
Frankie, I disagree. Murray started the quotation by referencing the Nashville game when he said “We DIDN’T play hard enough” and “We had a goaltender (Mason), who played in Nashville … (and) WAS doing everything he could to make sure we had a chance to win.” DIDN’T and WAS are PAST TENSE and logically refer to the Nashville game.
Clearly, Murray ends the quotation by making a reference to the season as a whole when is changes his verb tense and states “Paul Kariya, another former Nashville player, IS battling on every puck and IS our best forward. We DON”T have enough other guys going.” IS and DON”T are PRESENT TENSE and logically refer to the season. You may want to retake 5th grade English…
Billy,
I don’t know if you heard the press conference, or just saw the quote in print, but in hearing it, it was very clear that he was referring to that night’s game, and the lack of effort from the majority of the team, even though the tense didn’t match. He was referring to Mason and Kariya’s performance against their former team.
You’re absolutely correct about the tense error, but it would be Andy Murray who needs to retake 5th grade English. He should probably also retake “How to Motivate a Swede” - but that’s another story.
Viva la Zombo,
Frankie Bofa
Viva
I have another idea for a defensive lineup change. Trade Brewer, Jackman, and Keith Kathunk for a case of practice pucks. Put Carlo, Alex, and Lars in there and let them play. We can’t do any worse than they are now. Brewer and Jackman do nothing but stand five feet away from the play and watch the other teams players stand in front of the net until they score. As for Kathunk, he is always ten steps behind the play. He’s used up. We should have kept Bill Guerin instead.