Chad Johnson will make his debut with the St. Louis Blues when they host the 3-1 Anaheim Ducks tonight at Enterprise Center in St. Louis. The Blues opened as a -150 favorite in this game after dropping a game in Chicago last night despite a third-period comeback effort. The Ducks played in Dallas last night where they blew a 3-0 lead and lost 5-3.
- The Blues were 10-6 in the second game of back-to-backs last season.
- Anaheim has allowed just 2.2 goals per game (3rd in NHL).
- The Ducks are taking a league-worst 22.4 shots per game.
Ducks Getting it Done the “Boring” Way
The New Jersey Devils of the 1990s re-thought the way to play the game of hockey and find success without scoring seven goals per game.
Defense-first thinking caused the NHL to re-write the rule book to open up the flow of the game and by all accounts, rule changes and implementation of those rules has made the game more entertaining.
So it’s a little surprising to see the Anaheim Ducks, with the fewest shots on goal per game this season, near the top of the standings. 3-0 and leading 3-0 in last night’s game, the Dallas Stars flipped the script, pumping four unanswered past John Gibson and added one into the empty cage.
Even with the five goals against last night, Anaheim is third in the league with 2.2 goals against per game.
Battle of the Backups
Chad Johnson has been announced as the starting goaltender for St. Louis and it is expected that Ryan Miller will get the start in the back-to-back for Anaheim. Miller faced six shots in relief of John Gibson last night.
Johnson has played in 173 NHL games for five teams (Rangers, Coyotes, Bruins, Islanders, Sabres, Flames) since 20009. Last year in Buffalo, Johnson was 10-16 with a 3.55 GAA and .891 save percentage.
Ryan Miller, the long-time Sabre and former Blue had his best save percentage since 2009-2010 in his first year with Anaheim in ’17-’18 at .929. The 38-year-old provides an excellent backup option to John Gibson and a nice one-two combination for Randy Carlyle.
My Pick for Tonight
As bad as it looks to blow a three-goal lead, it was the circumstances surrounding the second-period collapse for Anaheim that was worse. Gibson faced 30 shots in the second period alone and continues to cover up the injuries and mistakes in front of him. With Gibson likely on the bench tonight, I like OVER 5.5 goals in this game.
