(SportsNetwork.com) – The St. Louis Blues will try to shake off a rough start
to a four-game road trip when they visit the Ottawa Senators for Saturday’s
matinee at Canadian Tire Centre.
The Blues had won three straight and 10 of 11 before embarking on their
current swing. St. Louis was blanked 2-0 Tuesday in Boston and then dropped a
4-1 decision in Thursday’s clash against the Montreal Canadiens.
St. Louis has struggled on the road this season, going 4-3-1 as the guest
compared to a stout 8-3-0 mark at home.
The Blues may have a difficult time picking up a win tonight, considering
their recent history against Ottawa. The Senators have won two straight and
seven of the past nine meetings overall and St. Louis has dropped six of seven
in Canada’s capital city.
Ottawa enters today’s clash having won two of its last three games and the
Sens notched a 3-2 victory over visiting Nashville on Thursday. The Senators
trailed 1-0 early in the first period, but took control of the game with three
markers in the second period.
Bobby Ryan, Alex Chiasson and Jared Cowen all had second-period goals, while
Robin Lehner made 33 saves, including 15 in the third period, to record the
win.
“We hadn’t played in a few days, and I think they had a little more speed than
us coming out,” Lehner said. “I think we made it difficult for ourselves,
putting the puck in the wrong spots, but I think we came out in the second and
third and played the right way, really worked at it. We tried to outwork them
and that’s what paid off in the end.”
The victory pushed Ottawa’s home record to 5-1-3. The Sens will complete a
brief two-game residency this afternoon before beginning a five-game road trip
Monday in Detroit.
The Blues grabbed an early lead in Montreal on Thursday, but the Habs tallied
the final four goals of the game to skate away with the easy win.
Vladimir Tarasenko opened the scoring at 7:45 of the first period, notching
his team-leading 11th goal of the season. The score stayed that way until Dale
Weise and Max Pacioretty tallied less than three minutes apart early in the
second period.
Rookie Jake Allen stopped 26-of-30 shots for St. Louis and fell to 5-2-0 on
the season.
“Right from the start we weren’t really good,” Blues defenseman Jay
Bouwmeester said. “We have to figure it out on the road.”
Brian Elliott is expected to start in net today and is 1-0-1 with a 1.94 goals
against average in two career outings against the Sens.
Lehner is 2-0 with a 2.79 GAA in his career versus St. Louis and is expected
to get the start tonight.
