BLUES AT KRAKEN
When: Friday, Jan. 21 at 9 p.m. CT
Where: Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, WA
Watch: Bally Sports Midwest, Bally Sports app
Listen: 93.9fm kspq, NHL App
TEAM SNAPSHOTS
BLUES It was a night to remember on Monday as the St. Louis Blues raised legendary defenseman Chris Pronger’s No. 44 to the rafters at Enterprise Center. As they’ve done an NHL-leading 14 times now this season, the Blues came from behind to win 5-3 over the division-rival Nashville Predators.
Down 2-0 in the first period, the Blues scored four unanswered goals to take control of the game. Ivan Barbashev had a career night, recording his first four-point game.
Brayden Schenn also tallied four points on Monday in his first game back from COVID protocols. The line of Schenn, Barbashev and Ryan O’Reilly totaled 11 of the Blues’ 15 points in the win.
“The whole team did a really good job,” said Barbashev. “We just played hard, we played smart. We tried not to give them a lot of chances, which there were a couple from our mistakes, but overall, I think it was a really good game for our line and really good team effort.”
The win over Nashville capped off a five-game homestand for the Blues, who went 4-1-0 in the season-long stint at Enterprise Center. Friday’s game in Seattle will mark the start of a three-game road trip, finishing with weekend matchups against Vancouver and Calgary.
Pavel Buchnevich is expected to make his return to the lineup on Friday after clearing COVID protocols and skated with the team this week.
The Blues enter Friday’s game with 51 points and a record of 23-11-5 as they battle with Colorado and Nashville for the Central Division lead.
KRAKEN The Seattle Kraken snapped a nine-game losing streak – which included a 2-1 loss to the Blues – in front of their fans on Monday, defeating the Chicago Blackhawks in a shootout.
It was Seattle’s first shootout victory as a franchise and was sealed by Ryan Donato and Joonas Donskoi getting pucks past Marc-Andre Fleury. Their only other shootout was on Dec. 1 in Detroit, a 4-3 loss to the Red Wings. Donato and former Blue Vince Dunn also tallied regulation goals in the win.
Monday marked the Kraken’s seventh home win of the season and first since Dec. 3 when they defeated the Oilers 4-3.
The fans at Climate Pledge Arena are more than ready for their new team to build some steam at home. The Kraken will face San Jose on Thursday before hosting the Blues, with the latter marking their fourth game of a six-game homestand.
As the League’s 32nd franchise builds out and develops its roster, Seattle currently sits last place in the Pacific Division with 26 points and a record of 11-23-4 ahead of Thursday’s game against the Sharks.
HEAD-TO-HEAD In the first and only matchup between the Blues and Kraken, St. Louis scored two goals in the third period to overcome an early Kraken lead and win at Enterprise Center. Just eight days will have passed between matchups, with the final game of the season series coming April 6 in St. Louis.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
BLUES Barbashev now has career high totals for goals (15), assists (19) and points (34) in a season. The 26-year-old forward has seven points in his last five games, including an assist on Buchnevich’s game-winning goal in the Jan. 13 win over Seattle.
KRAKEN Jordan Eberle became the Kraken’s first-ever All-Star selection last week and currently leads the team with 24 points. Davy Jones, the Kraken’s newest roster addition, also provided support in the team’s win over Chicago and is worth keeping a close eye on this season.
BLUE NOTES
Marco Scandella is set to play his 100th game as a Blue on Friday… Jordan Kyrou is averaging 1.15 points per game this season. The last Blue to average more was Pavol Demitra (1.19) during the 2002-03 season.
