Sabres Blues Preview

Hey I haven't done a preview for like a week, due to my vacation. But I come back and what do I get? A game against the Blues who I know nothing about. The Blues are one of those teams I know exist, but rarely see. They are like the Giant Squid, except these guys are from St Louis and not the from deep under water.

So what are the Blues up to?

Well the Blues are much better then previous years, sitting 4th in the Western Conference with 26 points. Which isn't surprising since they have a lot of young talent mixed in with veterans. But good news for the Sabres the Blues are much better at home, then the road. Only at 4-5 on the road. And don't seem offensive with scoring only 53 times in 21 games. Less then 3 goals a game. But only haven given up 46 goals this year, lowest in the league. So tonight should be a tight close game.

Who does what

Not knowing anything about the Blues, I did a little research on the Blues website. I was a little bit surprised to see Paul Kariya leading the team in scoring, since I didn't know he played for them. He has 22 points on the season, 6 g 16 assts. Brad Boyes is second in points, but first in goals with 13 on the season. Keith Tkachuk is third on the team with 17 points. Then the team is littered with low scoring forwards and defensemen. They really don't get much offense from the blue line with Steve Wagner(who the fuck is Steve Wagner) leading them with 8 points. The real stars of the team are the net minders. The career backup Manny Legace is really having a good year with a 2.13 GAA and a .922sv%. And Hannu Toivenen, who the Sabres really liked to score on when he was on the Bruins, is even better with a 1.99 GAA and a .927 Sv%.

Anything else?

Well this game is the much heralded return of shot blocking master Jay Mckee, I always felt his shot blocking led to more goals being deflected in, but whatever. I guess its something, though hes fallen out of favor with the coach who benches him, when hes not injured.

Everyone ones favorite Doug Weight will be in attendance who is pretty much dead weight on the Blues roster, till he gets traded to a cup contender at the deadline.

Interesting tidbit Buffalo hasn't beaten St Louis at home in 12 years. Of course they don't play often so that doesn't mean much.

Um enjoy the game.