Flames-Blues Preview
St. Louis, MO – The St. Louis Blues are at the bottom of the Western Conference, due in large part to the worst home record in the NHL.
They hope a pregame ceremony honoring Brett Hull can inspire them to play better on home ice, especially against the Calgary Flames.
The Blues will try to beat the Flames for just the third time in 12 meetings at Scottrade Center on Tuesday night.
Oddsmakers from Online Sportsbook SBGGLOBAL.com have made the Flames –120 money line favorites for Tuesday’s game against the Blues. Current NHL Public Betting Information shows that 56% of more than 345 bets for this game have been placed on the Flames -120.
St. Louis (13-12-5) is tied with Anaheim for last place in the West, a season after reaching the playoffs for the first time in four seasons.
The Blues are a league-worst 5-10-2 at home and were held to three goals or fewer in 14 of those games. They have dropped four in a row in St. Louis, where they haven’t lost five straight since a seven-game slide from Nov. 25-Dec. 17, 2006.
The Blues appeared headed for a home victory Friday, scoring the first three goals against Edmonton, but gave up five goals in the final 20:11 to lose 5-3.
"It’s unacceptable," defenseman Barret Jackman said. "Right after they got that goal at the end of the second period, it seemed like we flipped a switch and we were on our heels and weren’t doing the things that got us success in the first two periods. We weren’t skating when we got the puck, we were standing still."
Perhaps honoring Hull’s induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame can help spur the Blues.
Hull, who had his No. 16 retired by the team in 2006, is the Blues’ all-time leader with 527 goals and his 936 points rank second in club history. Hull played for St. Louis from 1988-98 after being acquired from Calgary.
The Blues have had little success recently against Hull’s first team. The Flames (19-9-4) went 16-2-1 in the last 19 meetings and 9-1-1 at St. Louis.
Calgary won 2-1 in overtime Nov. 5 as St. Louis dropped a fourth consecutive home matchup in the series. Chris Mason allowed Dion Phaneuf’s goal 2:50 into the extra period.
The Flames will try to continue their dominance over the Blues as they look to avoid a third consecutive defeat. They are coming off a 3-2 loss at Colorado on Sunday that moved the Avalanche atop the Northwest Division, two points ahead of Calgary.
"I thought (Sunday’s) game was a very, very important game. But obviously it was just the coaches who thought that," coach Brent Sutter said. "It’s a tough league to be average in."
Right wing Jarome Iginla has not scored in a season-high six games and has one goal in the last 10. Despite that slump, he leads Calgary with 17 goals and 32 points.
Iginla has recorded 10 goals and 17 assists in 15 games at St. Louis, and scored six goals in his last four contests there.
Posted: 12/15/09 12:00AM ET