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WGD: GAME 74: Red Wings vs. Blues

Mar 21, 2019, 18:19 EDT

As the season winds down, the Red Wings are travelling to the mid-west to take on the St. Louis Blues. These two teams have already played each other once this year and it was a 4-3 win for the Red Wings.

The Blues are in a different spot now, though. Back in November, they were in the basement of the league and on the verge of firing their coach. Now, they are holding on to the 3rd place spot in the Central Division.

They are more than likely going to make the playoffs. At this point, they’re playing for home ice.

THE RED WINGS

LW	C	RW
DARREN HELM Rating: 70.4#152 LW	DYLAN LARKIN Rating: 77.9#31 C	ANTHONY MANTHA Rating: 74.1#49 RW
TYLER BERTUZZI Rating: 73.1#60 LW	ANDREAS ATHANASIOU Rating: 76.9#37 C	LUKE GLENDENING Rating: 69.6#122 RW
THOMAS VANEK Rating: 71.9#78 LW	FRANS NIELSEN Rating: 71.4#124 C	TARO HIROSE
CHRISTOFFER EHN Rating: 69.5#126 LW	MICHAEL RASMUSSEN Rating: 70.6#147 C	RYAN KUFFNER

DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS
DAN DEKEYSER Rating: 71.1#99 LD	FILIP HRONEK Rating: 71.6#80 RD
NIKLAS KRONWALL Rating: 71.5#92 LD	MADISON BOWEY Rating: 68.9#101 RD
LIBOR SULAK Rating: 72.5#68 LD	BRIAN LASHOFF Rating: 72.1#71 RD

The Red Wings locker room must feel like a revolving door these days with all of the injuries and call-ups they’re dealing with.

Both of their NCAA free agents are drawing into the lineup again. Taro Hirose recorded his first point in his first game against the New York Rangers on Tuesday night. He actually looked pretty good with 13 minutes of ice time.

Libor Sulak was also called up this week on an emergency basis. It appears as though he’ll round out the bottom-pair with AHL veteran Brian Lashoff.

THE BLUES

LW	C	RW
Brayden Schenn Rating: 76.5#41 LW	Ryan O’Reilly Rating: 81.4#14 C	Vladimir Tarasenko Rating: 84.0#2 RW
Jaden Schwartz Rating: 76.3#26 LW	Oskar Sundqvist Rating: 71.6#114 C	David Perron Rating: 75.5#38 RW
Patrick Maroon Rating: 73.2#55 LW	Tyler Bozak Rating: 73.4#76 C	Robert Thomas Rating: 72.5#92 RW
Zach Sanford Rating: 71.3#102 LW	Ivan Barbashev Rating: 70.3#153 C	Alex Steen Rating: 72.3#73 RW

Defensive Pairings
Vince Dunn Rating: 76.2#19 LD	Alex Pietrangelo Rating: 80.7#6 RD
Jay Bouwmeester Rating: 72.0#81 LD	Colton Parayko Rating: 78.1#17 RD
Michael Del Zotto Rating: 72.2#76 LD	Robert Bortuzzo Rating: 72.4#61 RD

The Blues points leader is Ryan O’Reilly who has a very nice 69 points going into the game tonight. Tarasenko has struggled with injuries this year, but having him back on O’Reilly’s wing will certainly help the centerman hit his miletone.

Overall, this team has talent spread throughout the roster, with Alex Steen on the fourth line and surprisingly strong second and third lines. They’ve also got strong depth on their blueline with Michael Del Zotto on the bottom-pair and Colton Parayko in the top-4.

BETWEEN THE PIPES

Jonathan Bernier vs Jordan Binnington

Bernier will get the nod tonight after playing exceptionally well his last couple of games. He’s bee facing an extreme amount of shots keeping his goals against relatively low.

The Blues will be starting Jordan Binnington, who’s been a huge part of their comeback this season. The young goalie is 18-4-1 with a .930 save percentage so far this year.