Blues look to ignite offense in rematch with Rangers
Two of the NHL's top teams will meet for a second time this season when the New York Rangers host the St. Louis Blues at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night.
The Blues (5-2-2) emerged with a 3-2 win in St. Louis on Oct. 18. The Rangers (6-3-0) entered the third period down a goal with the Blues missing three players due to injury. Despite being undermanned, St. Louis survived being outshot 15-0 over the final 20 minutes thanks to goaltender Carter Hutton's splendid play.
The offense has dried up for the Blues with three goals over their past three games, but one was enough in a shutout victory against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday. Goaltender Jake Allen made 27 saves and doesn't think the lack of scoring is any more than a little slump over a long season.
"It's just one of those little stretches where pucks are either hitting a stick, hitting a post, when most of the time they're going in," Allen said. "That's going to turn for us soon. We've just got to work through it. The goals will come."
"It would be nice to see a few more go in and guys to start gripping it a little bit less, myself included," said left winger Jaden Schwartz, who has just one goal in five games. "Our goalies have been awesome. We haven't been scoring much but have still been able to get points."
Scoring has not been a problem for the Rangers, who are averaging a league-best 3.89 goals per game. The balance has been there too, with seven players scoring at least three goals.
The Blues have just four players with at least three goals.
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Right wing Michael Grabner, a third-liner for New York, scored three goals himself against the Lightning. It's an example of how just about anyone in the New York lineup can be deadly for opponents this season.
"A lot of our chances started from good defense, from good smart decisions coming through the neutral zone, and us catching them when we get a chance," said Rangers left wing J.T. Miller, who leads the team with nine points in nine games. "We talked about (Tampa's defense) being up in the rush all the time and giving us a transition game so we can transition on them."
The Rangers' speed has been giving teams problems all season and the Blues aren't one of the quicker clubs in the league. It didn't matter in the first encounter between the teams because of Hutton, so it will be on whoever is in net for coach Ken Hitchcock's team to make the difference.
"I don't think that way," Allen said about feeling the pressure to make every save when his team isn't scoring. "That's when they score on you. You just keep playing your game and try not to let anything faze you. If you need one goal, if you need a shutout, so be it, but you don't want to get too far ahead of yourself. It's just sort of one minute at a time."
Rangers left wing Chris Kreider had three goals in five games before neck spasms caused him to miss the past four contests. Even without one of their hottest scorers to start the season, the Rangers still averaged four goals per game.
"You want to play, obviously, but it's very encouraging to see how the team is doing," Kreider said to the media after practice Monday. "We're clicking on a lot of different levels, playing the way they want to play. So at the end of the day, that's what matters."
