Thursday, December 31, 2009

* EDITED (12-31-09) Canucks-Blues Gameday Lineup

By LOUIE KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- Mired in a season-long home slump which includes losses in eight of their last nine at Scottrade Center, the Blues continue to search for the missing pieces to remedy their home woes.

After today's morning skate, the Blues (17-17-5) will once again mix and match their lines tonight against the Vancouver Canucks, who the Blues are 2-0 against this season -- including a 6-1 thrashing here on Nov. 10.

* Andy McDonald will play and Brad Winchester is the healthy scratch tonight. He will be replaced by Derek Armstrong, who will have the emergency call-up label removed and thus, be a regular call-up. The Blues must be confident he will clear waivers if they send him back to Peoria.


Here are tonight's lines:

Andy McDonald-David Backes-Brad Boyes

David Perron-Patrik Berglund-T.J. Oshie


Alex Steen-Jay McClement-B.J. Crombeen

Derek Armstrong-Keith Tkachuk-Cam Janssen

Erik Johnson, who was a healthy scratch in Tuesday's 4-3 loss to Nashville, is back in the lineup, replacing Darryl Sydor.

So the D-pairings will include:

Erik Johnson-Eric Brewer

Barret Jackman-Roman Polak

Carlo Colaiacovo-Mike Weaver

Chris Mason will get the start in goal.


The Canucks come in with a 23-16-1 record, good for 47 points. Along with the loss here on Nov. 10, the Blues beat them at GM Place 3-1 on Dec. 20.

Along with the departure of Mathieu Schneider, who was put on waivers Tuesday, the Canucks also lost defenseman Kevin Bieksa, who suffered a severe cut on his left ankle and it appears he will miss substantial time.

The Canucks forward lines will resemble something like this:

Daniel Sedin-Henrik Sedin-Alex Burrows

Mason Raymond-Ryan Kesler-Mikael Samuelsson

Tanner Glass-Kyle Wellwood-Steve Bernier

Darcy Hordichuk-Alexandre Bolduc-Rick Rypien

With their defense in disarray, the D-pairings will resumble something like this:

Willie Mitchell-Sami Salo

Christian Ehrhoff-Shane O'Brien

Aaron Rome-Alexander Edler

Roberto Luongo will be in goal.

Remember, tonight's game is at 6 p.m., not the usual 7 p.m. start time

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