St. Louis is a harder team to read. The Blues are 9-8-2 and lost 3 straight on the road to the Rangers, Devils and Predators before turning it around: a 3-2 home win over Detroit, then a 1-0 shootout win in Utah behind a Joel Hofer shutout. That second win needs some context. The Mammoth were playing the back end of a back-to-back without Nick Schmaltz, Logan Cooley, Dylan Guenther and 3 regular defensemen, and St. Louis still went 65 minutes without scoring.
Detroit gives these two teams a useful common opponent from the same week. The Blues held the Red Wings to 2 goals and won by 1. Florida gave Detroit 4 and needed a late push to outscore them. That's the tension in this game. St. Louis has scored 10 goals in its last 5 and is winning on goaltending and structure. Florida has given up 4 goals in 3 of its last 5 and is winning by outscoring people. If Hofer gives the Blues another night like the one in Utah, the Panthers' depth scorers will have to find a way through him.
The St. Louis blue line is also short-handed. Torey Krug is on long-term injured reserve with an ankle injury, and Tyler Tucker is recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery, which puts more on the defensemen who are left against a forward group that keeps producing without its 2 biggest names. Dillon Dube is on IR up front too. Both teams get a day off after Thursday's games before puck drop at 6:00 PM CT. Florida comes in from a home game and the Blues come home from Salt Lake City.
