The St. Louis Blues and Dallas Stars will play Game 1 tonight at Enterprise Center. This second round matchup is between two Central Division teams. Dallas is 3-1-0 against St. Louis during the regular season, outscoring them 13-7. Tonight the puck drops at 9:30 p.m. ET; (NBCSN, TVAS, SN). Here is important information about both teams for this series.
Dallas Stars
The Stars busted a lot of brackets when they beat the Nashville Predators 4-2, in a best-of-seven series. Tonight they start the series against their rival. If the Stars want to advance, they have to depend on their top players to score. The Blues goaltender, Jordan Binnington, been the hottest goalie in the NHL. During the 32 games, he had a .927 save percentage and 1.89 goals against. Binnington should be the favorite to win the Calder Trophy (Top rookie). Dallas goaltender, Ben Bishop, became Vezina Trophy (top goaltender) candidate earlier this week. His experience and skill can help Dallas reach the Western Conference Final. Dallas was the second best team in the West since the All-Star break, putting up a 19-11-3 record. Tonight’s road matchup will be a huge test for the Stars.
FIRED. UP.@johnklingberg is a man of the people and the @DallasStars are in the Second Round. #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/OfTWVwlYh3
— NHL (@NHL) April 23, 2019
St. Louis Blues
The Blues had the best record in the league since Jan. 1. The team turned the corner when they appointed Craig Berube as their new head coach. He helped Ryan O’Reilly get back to his scoring ways by pairing him with. O’Reilly has been outstanding on face-offs, winning 53.5 percent in the first round. The biggest stand out would be rookie goaltender Jordan Binnington. The Blues defense needs to prevent Stars forwards Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin from scoring. Keeping the pressure off of Binnington can help them advance.
WE’RE SCREAMING JUST AS LOUD AS YOU ARE!!! #stlblues pic.twitter.com/qQ7Ko7qiKl
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) April 21, 2019
Predictions:
Blues beat Dallas 3-1. The third goal will be an empty-netter.
Expected lineups
Offense:
Jamie Benn — Tyler Seguin — Alexander Radulov
Jason Dickinson – Roope Hintz — Mats Zuccarello
Andrew Cogliano — Radek Faksa — Blake Comeau
Mattias Janmark — Justin Dowling — Jason Spezza
Defense:
Goalies:
Scratched: Tyler Pitlick, Valeri Nichushkin, Gavin Bayreuther, Joel Hanley, Brett Ritchie, Landon Bow
St. Louis projected lineup (According to NHL.com)
Offense
David Perron — Ryan O’Reilly — Vladimir Tarasenko
Jaden Schwartz — Brayden Schenn — Oskar Sundqvist
Pat Maroon — Tyler Bozak — Robert Thomas
Robby Fabbri — Ivan Barbashev — Alexander Steen
Defense
Carl Gunnarsson — Alex Pietrangelo
Jay Bouwmeester — Colton Parayko
Goalies:
Scratched: Robert Bortuzzo, Michael Del Zotto, Sammy Blais, Zach Sanford, Mackenzie MacEachern, Chris Thorburn, Jared Coreau
You can “Like” The Game Haus on Facebook and “Follow” us on Twitter for more sports and sports articles from other great TGH writers along with Anthony!
“From Our Haus to Yours”
Players must be 21 years of age or older or reach the minimum age for gambling in their respective state and located in jurisdictions where online gambling is legal. Please play responsibly. Bet with your head, not over it. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, and wants help, call or visit: (a) the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey at 1-800-Gambler or www.800gambler.org; or (b) Gamblers Anonymous at 855-2-CALL-GA or www.gamblersanonymous.org.
