OK, so the St. Louis Blues passed a key test in the first half of their first set of back-to-backs this season with a 3-0 win against the Calgary Flames on Thursday.
Now how do they react?
That will be the key question as the Blues (3-2-1) head to British Columbia to take on the Vancouver Canucks (4-2-0) today at 9 p.m. (BSMW, ESPN 101.1-FM) inside Rogers Arena.
The Blues were bullish in their win at Calgary, arguably putting together their best 60-minute performance of the young season from goaltending with Joel Hofer, who got credit for his first NHL shutout (he had combined with Thomas Greiss on one last season against Winnipeg), to a solid defensive effort to much improved forward play that was on its front foot from the drop of the puck, and had it not been for Flames netminder Jacob Markstrom, the scoreline could have been a wider margin.
The Blues did not hold a morning skate Friday morning, and coach Craig Berube will address any potential lineup changes at 7 p.m. (CT) tonight, but the only anticipated change would be Jordan Binnington in goal, which would possibly make forwards Jakub Vrana and Nikita Alexandrov and defenseman Tyler Tucker the healthy scratches.
In Vrana's case, one wouldn't project his scratching to be lengthy, but it's obvious the Blues coaching staff is looking for the 27-year-old to be more impactful on the ice despite his three points (one goal, two assists) and plus-2 rating through five games.
It probably also means Robert Bortuzzo and Scott Perunovich will remain in the lineup after each made his season debut Thursday, and it was especially meaningful in Bortuzzo's case, who dropped the gloves with Flames tough guy A.J. Greer not long after Kasperi Kapanen's shorthanded goal that probably gave the Blues some more juice moving forward, and they got a goal from Nick Leddy not long after to go up 2-0 before comfortably putting the game away.
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The Canucks have won two in a row and are scoring in bunches with 23 goals through six games (3.83 per game), but those numbers are a bit skewed since 12 of them came in season-opening wins against the surprisingly woeful Edmonton Oilers.
Vancouver is third in the league at the moment in power-play efficiency at 35.3 percent, so the Blues' PK will be put to the test on specialty teams, and they will hope the trend of the past eight games continues when they killed 23 of 25 Canucks power plays. But perhaps the Blues' power play can get going, going up against the 16th-ranked PK unit in the Canucks. The Blues are currently 31st in the league on the power play at 5.3 percent (1-for-19 to begin the season) but have scored on four of their past eight power-play opportunities against Vancouver.
The Blues went 2-0-1 against the Canucks last season and are 5-0-1 against them the past six games, outscoring them 24-14. St. Louis had won three straight in Vancouver, outscoring the Canucks 12-5.
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The Blues' projected lineup:
Brandon Saad-Robert Thomas-Jordan Kyrou
Pavel Buchnevich-Brayden Schenn-Kasperi Kapanen
Alexey Toropchenko-Kevin Hayes-Jake Neighbours
Oskar Sundqvist-Sammy Blais
Nick Leddy-Colton Parayko
Torey Krug-Justin Faulk
Marco Scandella-Robert Bortuzzo
Scott Perunovich
Jordan Binnington is projected to start in goal; Joel Hofer would be the backup.
Healthy scratches are projected to be Jakub Vrana, Tyler Tucker and Nikita Alexandrov. The Blues report no injuries.
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The Canucks' projected lineup:
Phillip Di Giuseppe-J.T. Miller-Brock Boeser
Andrei Kuzmenko-Elias Pettersson-Ilya Mikheyev
Dakota Joshua-Pius Suter-Conor Garland
Anthony Beauvillier-Sam Lafferty-Nils Hoglander
Quinn Hughes-Filip Hronek
Ian Cole-Mark Friedman
Carson Soucy-Tyler Myers
Thatcher Demko will start in goal; Casey DeSmith will be the backup.
Healthy scratches include Noah Juulsen and Jack Studnicka. Teddy Blueger (lower body) and Guillaume Brisebois (undisclosed) are out.
