Game Preview: St. Louis Blues @ Pittsburgh Penguins 3/13/2025

Yesterday at 07:00 AM

The Pens and Blues gear up tonight for a very important game, as far as St. Louis is concerned..

Who: St. Louis Blues (31-27-7, 69 points, 5th place Central Division) @ Pittsburgh Penguins (26-31-10, 62 points, 8th place Metropolitan Division)

When: 7:00 p.m. ET

How to Watch: Sportsnet Pittsburgh and FanDuel Sports Network Midwest for local markets, streaming on ESPN+

Pens' Path Ahead: The schedule is friendly to the Penguins in the coming days. They stay at home to meet the Devils on Saturday afternoon (3:30 start) then get two days off before hosting the Islanders next Tuesday, then get two more days off before Columbus comes to town on Friday March 21st.

Opponent Track: This is STL's fifth road game in a row, but they've had four days off since their last game in Los Angeles back on Saturday (a 2-1 OT loss). That break allowed them to stop at home host their annual charity casino night in St. Louis on Tuesday before flying to Pittsburgh. The Blues are 3-1-1 in the month of March, and oddly enough played against the Kings three times from March 1-8.

Season Series: We're late in the season but this is the first PIT/STL game of the year. The two teams will rematch on April 3rd in St. Louis.

Hidden Stat: Per Pens PR, the Penguins have wins in four-straight home games against the Blues, and are 5-2-1 in their last eight games against them at home.

Hidden Stat II: Also from the PR department, goaltender Tristan Jarry has played in seven career games versus St. Louis going 6-1-0 with a 1.85 goals-against average, .929 save percentage and one shutout. He's undefeated against them here at PPG Paints Arena, going 4-0-0 with a 1.17 goals-against average and .958 save percentage.

Getting to know the Blues

Projected lines (from yesterday's practice)

FORWARDS

Jake Neighbours - Robert Thomas - Pavel Buchnevich

Dylan Holloway - Brayden Schenn - Jordan Kyrou

Mathieu Joseph - Oskar Sundqvist - Zach Bolduc

Alexei Toropchenko - Radek Faksa - Nathan Walker

DEFENSEMEN

Cam Fowler / Nick Leddy

Philip Broberg / Justin Faulk

Ryan Suter / Tyler Tucker

Goalies: Jordan Binnington and Joel Hofer

Scratches: Alex Texier, Matt "no relation" Kessel, Colton Parakyo (knee injury, out for regular season)

IR: Torey Krug

—Schenn, the team captain, had a bit of "will they won't they" trade drama going on leading up to the deadline. He owns a full no trade clause and ended up not being moved. That's good for STL's short-term playoff push (Schenn has eight points in the last nine games), possibly bad for the longer outlook with him still on the books for a $6.5 million cap hit through 2027-28.

—However, the loss of Parayko (out since March 5th) looms large. The right side of the defense is a lot less imposing without the Team Canada member. It hasn't tripped the Blues up yet but that absence could be felt in the weeks to come in the stretch run.

—The Blues ended up making no moves at the deadline, they're in a tough spot since they still have hope to make a run for the playoffs but also weren't in a position to add to their team.

Player stats

(via hockeydb)

—The Blues' aggressive management to poach two Edmonton RFA's last summer has to be deemed a success, and possibly a success of eventual large magnitude. Broberg has been averaging 20 minutes per game and been a steady player on the back-end. Even better, for the cost of just a third round pick STL picked up Holloway who has built on his impressive 2024 postseason to become a 20G/50 point very solid middle-six player. NHL teams have been very reluctant to weaponize restricted free agents, the Blues made a major move outside the norms and it paid off. Now the question looms if that strategy will be emulated elsewhere this summer and beyond.

—Bolduc is a good young player to watch, also perhaps the hottest Blue going with 3G+1A in the last five to lead them in goals and be tied for the lead in points in this five-game stretch. Bolduc got to the NHL a little quicker than a Rutger McGroarty (25 games played last year for Bolduc in his first pro season, compared to three for McGroarty this year) but offers an example of a similar path of a mid-first round pick developing fairly quickly into a decent NHL player. Both are similar in that they didn't have elite AHL scoring (25 points in 50 games last season in that league for Bolduc). Fast forward to a year from now and the Pens would have to be very pleased if McGroarty is playing as an NHL regular on the third line with double digit goals and points in his second pro season, and starting to shine as one of the better players on the ice at times, as Bolduc has been lately.

Playing spoiler

Here is the Western Conference Wild Card race as of yesterday morning:

Last night saw two important games (CGY-VAN and UTAH-ANA) that will have implications.

Minnesota looks OK for now, the race is coming down to four teams (CGY, VAN, STL, UTAH) fighting over the final playoff spot in the West. The Flames had a very narrow inside track as of yesterday with fewer games played and the highest points and regulation wins, but the outlook would shift with a few losses by them paired with wins by others.

That means it goes without saying but there are heavy implications in this game for St. Louis. Via Moneypuck:

Their playoffs have basically already begun with the fight just to make it into the postseason. The Penguins will need to be ready to match that type of intensity tonight against what should be a very motivated opponent desperate to get a result. Pittsburgh doesn't have much to play for at this point aside from the role of a spoiler and put a big dent in STL's chances by defeating them in regulation (and make some temporary fans in Calgary and Vancouver tonight along the way).

And now for the Pens

Projected lines

FORWARDS

Rickard Rakell - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust

Danton Heinen - Evgeni Malkin - Philip Tomasino

Connor Dewar - Kevin Hayes - Emil Bemstrom

Boko Imama - Blake Lizotte - Noel Acciari

DEFENSEMEN

Vladislav Kolyachonok / Kris Letang

Matt Grzelcyk / Erik Karlsson

Ryan Graves / Connor Timmins

Goalies: Alex Nedeljkovic, Tristan Jarry

Potential Scratches: Ryan Shea (week-to-week injury), Tommy Novak (day-to-day injury)

Injured Reserve: P.O. Joseph (upper-body injury)

—Novak didn't practice yesterday so it looks like he'll miss his second straight game with an undisclosed lower body injury.

—All the injuries have put a spotlight on Kolyachonok and so far there's been more and more to like as he's gotten this opportunity. The young defender played almost 22 minutes on Tuesday against Vegas and nearly scored with a great look in front of the net that hit the cross-bar. The team is desperate for NHL-caliber defensemen right now and this is an amazing opportunity for Kolyachonok to start carving out a niche in the NHL. He is signed for 2025-26, the better he plays the more likely he is to insert himself in the organization's plans for next season with the NHL club. While the season outcome won't matter for the whole team, little individual plots like Kolyachonok's level of play will have great meaning for what other roster moves may or may not need to be prioritized in the off-season.

—The new Jarry: 2-0-0, .955 save percentage, 1.49 GAA coming in the last two games. In the topsy turvy world of Penguin goaltending Jarry now, remarkably, finds himself back in the top seat. Of course, that status comes with no grace or built up equity at this point but tonight ought to be another opportunity to see how long he can stay in this kind of form.