Preview of Game 4: St. Louis Blues

Here’s a preview of the Corey Perry Night game against the St. Louis Blues.

The Blues play tonight in San Jose before they drive down to Anaheim and take on the Ducks on Corey Perry Night. The Blues coming in to tonight are 1-2 with their lone win coming in a home game against the Calgary Flames 5-2. This past thursday, the Blues lost a tough game in Dallas to surprising Kari Lehtonen. The Blues could very easily right now be 2-1 or even 3-0 if it weren’t for a few costly mistakes in some close games. So, this team isn’t a pushover by no means. However, I do think this is a team the Ducks can handle.  The Blues do have some good offensive threats like Jason Arnott, TJ Oshie, Patrik Berglund and Alex Steen just to name a few. They also have some good defenseman on the blue line like former Duck Kent Huskins, Carlo Colaiacovo, Barret Jackman, and youngsters Kevin Shattenkirk and Alex Pietrangelo. Then they have a solid goalie in former Canadien Jaroslav Halak in net.

The Ducks need to pick it up on the power play, actually they need to pick it up offensively as a unit. Three goals in regulation through three games is not good enough, especially with this offense. That top line that is supposed to be one of the best in the league, hasn’t looked like that so far. Perhaps on Corey Perry Night, that line will finally get their game going. I also want to see them control the puck a little better. Against the Sharks, they got a little sloppy with puck control sometimes. And you can’t do that too much against good offensive teams like San Jose and St. Louis. And finally, they need to do much better in the face off circle, the Sharks owned the face off circle all game last night.

Players to Watch:

• Matt D’Agostini: He has played very well for the Blues so far this season, tallying one goal and one assist in three games. He’s a good skater with good speed and good offensive instincts.
• Jonas HIller: He’s coming off his best performance of the early season where he made save after save to register a shut out against the Sharks in the home opener.

Prediction:

On paper, the Ducks are the better team. On the ice is a different matter. The Ducks should win this game if they play they’re style of game. However, the Blues are a team that can surprise some people. I’ve liked this Blues team since they made the free agent signings of Arnott and Langenbrunner over the summer. I expect a Ducks win, but a loss to the Blues wouldn’t make me upset, unless once again the Ducks can’t score.