GDT: Defending Cup Champs St. Louis Blues vs. Ottawa Senators | 6:30 PM | Going for 3

[The Note]

When: Thursday, Oct. 10 at 6:30 p.m. CT
Where: Canadian Tire Centre
Watch: FOX Sports Midwest, FOX Sports GO
Listen: 101 ESPN, NHL App

**I am using last game's lineup as I am just trying to get this up while I have the time. If there are changes, I will update this when I get the chance**

VS.

​

Brady Tkachuk-Colin White-Tyler Ennis
Vladislav Namestnikov-Artem Anisimov-Connor Brown
Anthony Duclair-Chris Tierney-Bobby Ryan
Vitaly Abramov-Jean-Gabriel Pageau-Scott Sabourin

Thomas Chabot-Nikita Zaitsev
Erik Brannstrom-Ron Hainsey
Mark Borowiecki-Dylan DeMelo

Anders Nilsson

Take care of business and make it 3 in a row.

Click to read more...

 

[brokeu91]

All right, let's keep it going.

Is Lord Winnington, the earl of victory playing or Allen? I figured one of these games Allen would be starting and it might as well be against the worst team in the league.

 

[AjaxManifesto]

Allen starting?

 

[A Real Barn Burner]

Well tonight we’ll find out if this years team is going to make it a habit to play down to bad teams. I certainly hope they have learned their lesson. Lets go Blues! Getting the first winning streak out of the way before January would be nice.

 

[David Dennison]

I spy.

 

[EurlichBachman]

The title of these threads really puts a smile on my face this year.

 

[TheBluePenguin]

Allen starting?

Seems like a good game to throw him in.

 

[elkranio]

Back from vacation, this is probably gonna be the first game I'm gonna watch.
Here's the Armenian iron throne.

 

[Oberyn]

This is a good game to get Allen a start in.

 

[Novacain]

Don’t underestimate them just because they suck.

 

[blues hillbilly]

The only game I look forward to Shakey Jake starting is the first one on some other team's roster.

 

[67Blues]

Allen plays better on the road, he should never start a game at Scott. I suspect he'll get a start in one of the next road games, and why not this one. Get it out of the way and hope the offense can cover a couple of soft goals.

 

[Stealth JD]

I'd like to see the offense come to life in a big way, and build some confidence for the forwards. Dom's article in the Athletic today talks about the Blues underlaying numbers (expected goals) kind of sucking thus far. Much of that can be attributed to the quality of competition thus far, and the Blues goaltending was a difference maker in those games. At some point the Blues will need to start outplaying their opponents. Tonight would be a good time to start trending in that direction.

Tough to complain about 5 out of 6 points thus far, but there's definitely room for improvement. Time to make the Sens a piñata.

 

[Michael Scarn]

Will always love that Faulk picture. Looks like a stock photo of a bald man that someone was trying out different hair styles on.

 

[Brian39]

I think I would start Binny tonight and Allen on Saturday. Starting Allen tonight is 4 days off for Binny between games, which is getting into the time frame where you fall out of a grove. The opening schedule has been pretty good in terms of pacing, so I'd have Binny go again tonight, Allen Saturday and then Binny again on Monday. Additionally, after this road trip we have 4 straight home games, followed by a road game vs the Bruins. None of those games are back-to-back so I'd like to see Binny in all of them. I'd rather have Binny's day off a bit closer to that stretch if possible. Unless the plan is to play Allen tonight AND against the Isles on Monday (which I'm not wild about), I'd like Binny's day off Saturday instead of today in order to be better rested for a fairly busy stretch.

I'm more concerned with Binny getting a consistent pace/flow to his starts than I am about Allen's opponent (when the choice is between the Sens and the Habs both on the road). Allen's job this year is to make Binny's first full season as an NHL #1 as 'easy' as possible.

Edit: This is what my current plan would be for the goalies in October:

Tonight: Binny
10/12/19 @ Montreal: Allen
10/14/19 @ NYI: Binny
10/17/19 vs Vancouver: Binny
10/19/19 vs Montreal: Binny
10/21/19 vs Colorado: Binny
10/24/19 vs LA: Binny
10/26/19 @ Boston: Binny
10/27/19 @ Detroit: Allen
10/30/19 vs Minnesota: Binny

It's a high workload in terms of percentage of games started, but we have a fairly light October with 13 games in 30 days and only 1 back to back. November gets super busy with 4 back-to-backs and a very tough last 2 weeks of the month, so I'd be starting Allen frequently after that Minnesota game on 10/30/19. If you are concerned about the October workload or Binny appears to need an extra rest, give Allen either 10/19/19 or 10/24/19.

 

[izzy]

blais hat trick tnt

 

[illinidave]

Allen starting per JR tweet

 

[ismelofhockey]

Will always love that Faulk picture. Looks like a stock photo of a bald man that someone was trying out different hair styles on.

Bouwmeester looks like a recovering meth addict who just got his one year badge.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

The Blues lost this game last year (on the road at Ottawa). It was embarrassing, and you could argue that it was the difference between winning the division and 3rd place. I'd like to think they decide to show up tonight, and I'd love for Allen to get the year started with a solid outing.

That arena is decrepit. And its true that its in the middle of nowhere 40 minutes out of town.

 

[Ranksu]

Back from vacation, this is probably gonna be the first game I'm gonna watch.

Allen starting per JR tweet

Welcome back @elkranio

 

[Semikova]

Shamelessly going to ask for dfs advice: Does anyone know which of Perron - O'Reilly - Bozak - Faulk - Pietro and Schwartz - Schenn - Fabbri - Dunn - Tarasenko is the #1 PP?

 

[mk80]

They have some good players on their team. That said this should be a win and 2 points to take onto Montreal! Allen has good numbers on the road, and seems to thrive in a backup or 1A-1B type role so I'm not too concerned about him.

 

[MissouriMook]

Bortz in for Gunnar tonight, too. Would have liked to see JBo get a game off but hopefully they can get him and Steen a game off soon to keep them fresh through the end of the season. No back-to-backs until October 26-27 in Boston and Detroit but we have 4 of them coming up in November.

 

[The Note]

Schwartz - Schenn - Tarasenko
Blais - O'Reilly - Perron
Sanford - Bozak - Fabbri
Barbashev - Sundqvist - Steen
Defense
Faulk - Pietrangelo
Bouwmeester - Parayko
Dunn - Bortuzzo
Goalie
Allen

on mobile so can’t update the pictures, but here’s the updated lineup tonight

 

[Brian39]

Gunnar was a -2 through 12:39 of ice time against the Leafs and was essentially stapled to the bench in the 3rd period. No surprise that he is the odd man out in order to get Bortz into the lineup. I don't think Berube is going to give J-Bo too many maintenance games off this year unless/until he is comfortable with Faulk playing an entire game on the left side in the top 4. Realistically, keeping J-Bo fresh is going to need to largely be accomplished by managing his minutes.