Blues at Blackhawks preview: Showdown on ESPN+

After Wednesday night’s turkey of a loss against the Detroit Red Wings, the Blues get to face their biggest divisional rival. The Blues have an afternoon tilt today with the Chicago Blackhawks. It’s scheduled for 2:30, which is an hour earlier than the original planned start. Why? Because the game was originally scheduled for inclusion in ABC’s Thanksgiving Showdown, but PR issues (to make the understatement of the decade) involving the Blackhawks makes it less than appropriate for them to be a team featured on national TV on Black Friday.

So, hop on over to Hulu or ESPN+ for a chance to watch the game, I guess. There aren’t blackout restrictions, but you may have to sign up for the service.

The Blues are at 10-7-2 on the season, which is more frustrating than it looks like when a good chunk of the losses were either close or preventable. Tuesday’s loss to the Wings fell into both categories. The Blues ran into a hot goalie in Alex Nedeljkovic, but they also ran into defensive hiccups with the reunion of Colton Parayko and Marco Scandella. Even when the pair was split, Scandella had a rough night.

The Blues have lost six of their last eight games, which might make it hard for fans to hear statements like “I thought we played a really good game. We just didn’t get the results we wanted,” coming from Ryan O’Reilly. It doesn’t seem like the Blues have been getting the results that they’re capable of regardless of if they hit a hot goalie or not, but they did have the shots on net that could lead someone (like head coach Craig Berube) to think that goals are coming.

The last time the Blues played the Blackhawks was on October 30th, and they skated off with a 1-0 win. That game was a lot more of a track meet than the score would make it appear, and with a fully healthy team out there this after noon, we could be in for another run. The Hawks will be looking to rebound from a 5-2 loss to the Flames on Tuesday, but they’ve been playing significantly better after replacing their head coach with Derek King. They’re still not what you would confuse with “good,” but after the Blues dropped that loss to the Coyotes, hopefully the team is mindful about playing down to their opponents.