Know Your Enemy: 5 Questions with St. Louis Game Time

The last time the Flames and the Blues met it got a little crazy. The Flames won that one in a shootout after Mark Giordano tied the game with four seconds left. Calgary’s been pretty awful since then; how has St Louis looked?

Pretty good, I guess. I mean, they have a five game winning streak, so that’s not bad. The thing is, people look at the streak and look at how they’ve dominated the Kings and the Blue Jackets and go “wow! Curbstomping!” but it’s not. The way that the Blues kind of quit in the third period against Calgary? That’s how they played against the Kings and the Jackets in the first periods of each game. I might be nitpicky, but it concerns me.

Last year young star Vladimir Tarasenko was making all the headlines for the Blues. Are you getting what you hoped for out of him this season?

Oh, lord yes. 13 goals so far, making space for himself, setting up chances everywhere – it's basically what we expected from him last season too except the concussion cut it short. He's been a blast to watch – his enthusiasm is pretty infectious.

Some Flames fans might be wondering about our old friend Jay Bouwmeester. How’s he doing these days?

Oh, you mean Canadian Olympic Hero Jay Bouwmeester? He's doing pretty ok. I wish that they'd stop using Fox's fancy slo-mo camera on him. He already doesn't really blink enough, and it just really accentuates that. Seriously, though, he's doing well. He and Pietrangelo are a great pairing – they should do you guys a lot of good at the Olympics.

The Blues have the fourth-most penalty minutes in the league right now. Has that been a problem?

Not really – most of the penalties haven't been mind blowingly silly, save for those two in Calgary that probably helped cost the Blues the game. It's a lot more different than last season, where you had the David Perron Silly Offensive Zone Penalty of the game basically constantly.

Is there really a goalie controversy going on in St Louis?

In reality? Probably not – Jaroslav Halak has been sick, and Elliott’s been amazing. Halak could be playing better, but I think the sooner people come to terms with a 1A/1B tandem the better. Wanting to ditch Halak for “someone better” really does both of the team’s current goaltenders a disservice. But you know how people are, especially Blues fans. We’re geared to expect something to go wrong, and I suppose this season that something is Halak.

Big thanks to Laura @hildymac for answering our questions—be sure to check out St. Louis Game Time's coverage of the game tonight and M&G's gameday preview.

by Ruhee Dewji