St Louis Blues News
Binnington allowed two goals on 23 shots in the Blues win over the Kings on Saturday. Ville Husso gave him the night off on Sunday, but they'll go back to Binnington tonight in Vegas. The 27-year-old is 3-1-1 with a 2.53 GAA and .927 SV% to open the 2021 season and was 1-0-1 while allowing eight goals on 81 shots (.901 SV%) in two games vs. Vegas last year.
Binnington allowed four goals on 26 shots in the Blues win over the Sharks on Monday. It wasn't Binnington's best effort but it was enough to win his second game in three starts. Binnington has opened the season with a .883 SV%, so his fantasy owners hope there are better days ahead. The Sharks come into Wednesday's rematch averaging 3.67 goals per game through their first three contests.
Binnington was yanked after allowing four goals on 24 shots in the Blues' 8-0 loss in Colorado last Friday. It was an ugly outing for the entire team but the Blues will go right back to their No.1 netminder tonight vs. the Sharks. In his only start vs. the Sharks in 2020, Binnington stopped 27 of 29 shots in a winning effort.
Binnington stopped 26 of 27 shots in the Blues' 4-1 win in Colorado on Wednesday. It was a great start to the season for Binnington, who struggled in the bubble, going 0-5-0 with a 4.72 GAA and .851 SV%. Wins against the Avalanche won't come easily, so Binnington is a risky option as he looks to start the season 2-0.
After a breakout 2019 campaign, Binnington came back down to earth a bit in 2020. He still managed to win 30 games while posting a 2.56 GAA and .912 SV% in 50 starts. Binnington struggled a bit on the road, going 10-8-2 with a .903 SV%, so he could have a tough start to the season with a road matchup in Colorado. He was 2-2-0 with a 3.98 GAA and .857 SV% in two starts vs. the Avalanche last year.
MacEachern was originally sent to the taxi squad to the Blues could become cap compliant but was able to be recalled Wednesday because Vladimir Tarasenko was moved to LTIR. MacEachern had 10 points (7G / 3A) in 51 games a season ago.
Kyrou was originally sent to the taxi squad to the Blues could become cap compliant but was able to be recalled Wednesday because Vladimir Tarasenko was moved to LTIR. Kyrou had four goals and five assists (nine points) in 28 NHL games a season ago.
Leivo appeared in just 36 games with the Canucks last season, picking up seven goals and 12 assists (19 points). The Leivo signing continues the Flames' trend of bringing in former Canucks this offseason. With Dominik Simon and Joakim Nordstrom also signing with the Flames, they have plenty of internal competition for bottom-6 roles this season.
Krug is one of the league's best offensive-defensemen and will be a strong replacement for Alex Pietrangelo. Krug will likely skate on the top-pair with Colton Parayko and will quarterback the top power-play unit. His PP production has been elite but that's been on one of the best units in the NHL. It will be interesting to see how much of that carries over to St. Louis. Krug has registered at least 44 points in five straight seasons, averaging eight goals and 43 assists (51 points) per season.
Faksa has not appeared in a game during the series, so it's not surprising that he won't be available for a must-win Game 6. Nicholas Caamano will stick in the lineup with Faksa out.
Faksa missed Game 4 and has already been ruled out of tonight's Game 5. Roope Hintz was banged up in Game 4 and is questionable tonight, so the Stars could be really thin at centre if he's a no go. At that point, they will likely go with 11 forwards and seven defensemen and we would likely see a lot of Tyler Seguin and Joe Pavelski double shifting on the fourth line.