About the Blues - 11-01-08

A preview of the Blues.

Record: 5-4-0

Leading Scorer: Paul Kariya (right) 12 points (2 goals, 10 assists).

Last Game: 1-0 home loss to Carolina Thursday.

Last Game against the Penguins:  4-1 win in Pittsburgh Dec 19, 2006.

Blues Player We Would Bet Money On Scoring: Kariya. He has 19 points in 14 career games against the Penguins.

Ex-Penguins: David Koci, LW (former Penguins prospect); Mike Weaver, D (He's an ex-Penguin sort of. He was in training camp with the Penguins last season, but was cut before the season started); Ville Siren, professional scout.

Useless Blues Trivia: Only three goaltenders have career playoff records over .500 while with St. Louis; Grant Fuhr (15-14), Jacques Plante (12-3) and Roman Turek (12-9).

Best Blues YouTube Video We Could Find: Check out this goal Brad Boyes scored against the Maple Leafs in the preseason:

 [View:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVlzbfa5Ucs]

Notes:

-If Sidney Crosby can't go tonight, a lot of folks in St. Louis will be disappointed.

-Janne Pesonen was recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

-The Blues recalled goaltender Chris Holt from from Peoria of the AHL and demoted goaltender Marek Schwarz.

-The Blues need a bounce-back game tonight.

-Who wants to bet Eric Godard tries to fight Koci? Don't forget, it was Koci who injured Sergei Gonchar in the preseason while he was still with Tampa Bay.

-Our live blog starts tonight at approximately 8 p.m.

EMPTY NETTER ASSISTS

Penguins

-Evgeni Malkin (right) says his team needs to work harder if it wants to start scoring.

-Is it too early to worry about the Penguins' problems on offense? Vote on it here.

-Jeff Taffe had a goal and an assist for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in a 3-1 win at San Antonio. Penguins goaltender John Curry made 31 saves in his season debut.

-Nick Johnson had a goal and three assists for the Wheeling Nailers who beat visiting Dayton in a 6-1 defeat of Dayton. Tommy Goebel had two goals for Wheeling.

Atlantic Division

-Islanders defenseman Freddy Meyer is dealing with a sports hernia.

-Devils defenseman Andy Greene is dealing with a broken hand.

-For what it's worth, Devils forward Mike Rupp says he's planning on voting for John McCain.

-Defenseman Ossi Vaananen is fitting in well with the Flyers. He's up to 2.3 drowned puppies a day.

-It turns out Rangers prospect Alexei Cherepanov was illegally playing for Avangard Omsk of the KHL at the time of his death.

Northeast Division

-The Canadiens suspended prospect Pavel Valentenko without pay after he signed with a team in the KHL.

-Montreal coach Guy Carbonneau wants his team to be more disciplined.

Southeast Division



-Capitals forward Alexander Semin (above) wants to know what's so special about Sidney Crosby? Aside from the scoring title, MVP award, Stanley Cup final appearance, playoff-leading point total and that 1.37 points-per-game average over his career of course.

-With defenseman Tom Poti recovered from a groin injury, the Capitals demoted defenseman Tyler Sloan to Hershey of the AHL.

-Former Sabres forward Mike Ryan signed with the Hurricanes.

-Is the Lightning desperate for fans?

-Tampa Bay coach Barry Melrose knows he needs to win now.

Central Division

-Patrick Kane had a goal and two assists for the Blackhawks in a 5-2 defeat of the Stars.

-Blue Jackets forward Jared Boll (right) was suspended for one game for getting an instigator penalty with in the final five minutes of a game in Colorado Thursday. Additionally, Columbus coach Ken Hitchcock was fined $10,000 for the penalty.

-Check out this pretty good story about Blue Jackets rookie forward Jake Voracek who was born in the former Czechoslovakia.

-The Red Wings are concerned about their defense.

-The Predators could set a franchise scoring record today.

Northwest Division

-Shootout goals by Kyle Wellwood and Mattias Ohlund gave the Canucks a thrilling 7-6 win at Anaheim. We watched this game at the office last night and it was amazing. A total of seven goals alone were scored in the second period. Then the shootout went 13 rounds before Ohlund won the game. Games like this is what you dream about when you buy a ticket or tune into a game.

-Here's the entire shootout:

[View:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jLX6t8tQoU]

-Wild forward Antti Miettinen and defenseman Brent Burns are dealing with undisclosed injuries.

Pacific Division

-The Stars put forward Joel Lundqvist on injured reserve due to a shoulder injury. In his place, they recalled forward Chris Connor from Peoria of the AHL.

-Ducks forward Teemu Selanne scored two goals last night and moved into a tie with Canadiens Guy LaFleur on the NHL's career goal-scoring list. Each player has 550 goals.

-Anaheim forward George Parros is dealing with an eye injury.

-Defenseman Ken Klee has brought stability to the Coyotes.

-The Sharks are undefeated at home.

-Do not trifle with Bailey, the Kings' mascot.

Smythe Division

-Today's "drunk driving with a Zamboni" story is brought to you by Kingsville, Ont.

-Sports Illustrated put together a pretty good Halloween-themed gallery of hockey images. (Kudos to EN reader John Bodnar for the heads up.)

(Photos: Kariya-Jamie Squire/Getty Images; Malkin-Bruce Bennett/Getty Images; Semin-Jim McIsaac/Getty Images; Boll-Jay LaPrete/Associated Press)