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GDT: Blues vs Leafs 6PM

1 by CaptSMRT

Louie Korac - NHL.com Correspondent

MAPLE LEAFS (8-13-5) at BLUES (15-7-4)

TV: CBC, FS-MW

Season series: Alexander Steen had a goal and three assists for the St. Louis Blues in their two victories against the Toronto Maple Leafs last season. The Blues won 6-1 at Air Canada Centre on March 7 and 3-0 on Jan. 17 at Scottrade Center. David Backes had a goal and two assists and Vladimir Tarasenko had a goal and an assist for St. Louis. Goalie Brian Elliott allowed one goal on 51 shots in two games. Goalie Jonathan Bernier took both losses for Toronto, making 44 saves on 50 shots.

Maple Leafs team scope: Toronto recalled goalie Antoine Bibeau and assigned forward Rich Clune to the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League. Goalie James Reimer, who made 27 saves in a 1-0 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Thursday, is day-to-day with a lower-body injury that forced him to miss two games prior to Thursday. Bibeau will likely back up Garret Sparks on Saturday. The Maple Leafs will be looking for their first win of a three-game trip through the Central Division that's thus far yielded losses to the Winnipeg Jets and Wild; they'll play for the third time in four days. The Maple Leafs, who took Friday off, are 1-4-1 in their past six games and have scored eight goals. "I just think you keep grinding," coach Mike Babcock said on the team website. "... I'm a big believer in you just stick with the process. You do good things, good things will happen to you over time." A good place to start would be scoring first. Toronto is 3-10-3 when allowing the first goal. Toronto will be looking for its first win at Scottrade Center since a 3-2 shootout victory on Nov. 10, 2011.

Blues team scope: St. Louis will turn back to goalie Jake Allen after Elliott made 24 saves in a 2-1 shootout loss at the New York Islanders on Friday. "We really played a good team game tonight," defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk, who scored the Blues' lone goal, said in comments tweeted by the team. "I really wish we could have gotten Elliott the win. He really deserves it." The Blues have three wins in their past 10 games and all have come against Eastern Conference foes; it will be the Blues' ninth consecutive game against an Eastern Conference opponent. St. Louis lost for the first time this season when leading after two periods. Rookie defenseman Colton Parayko avoided serious injury in the third period when he left the game after his right leg buckled underneath him in a corner battle; he left briefly but returned to finish the game.

Re: GDT: Blues vs Leafs 6PM

2 by Robb_K
I hope that Tarasenko, Steen, Shattenkirk, Pietrangelo, Backes and Stastny are not too tired because of the frenetically-paced OT period last night, in which they played big minutes with non-stop racing back-and-forth up and down the ice.

The Blues need to start off skating hard right away in The 1st Period. Not wait until The 3rd to start playing. The Leafs are pretty bad on average, but they can beat a good team that's playing half-heartedly, EVEN on the road.

Re: GDT: Blues vs Leafs 6PM

20 by Oates2Hullie450
The effort level of this team really is disappointing. This is a game they need to show up for and they haven't, at all. As others have said, they seem to see weaker teams as a chance to take the night off, when that just can't be the case. They aren't that good, not even close. As for what SK said, you're right, this group is going nowhere fast. They seem pretty tight knit though this season in my eyes, so maybe a trade of some sort before the deadline would be enough to wake their arses up before the playoffs. Hopefully playoffs, I feel like a lot of people have forgotten that especially in this division, the playoffs are very far from a guarantee.

Re: GDT: Blues vs Leafs 6PM

21 by BluesSK
Robb_K wrote:What good is putting in a different goalie, when the skaters are not playing? Why does this talented team almost always play down to the competition? If Hitchcock can't get good players to play, he should be replaced.
I like Hitch a lot, but it really is time. This team is flat and listless more often than not.
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