Vancouver Canucks gameday: A road meeting against St. Louis Blues

Following a perfect homestand, the Vancouver Canucks will begin a four-game road trip. It starts tonight against the defending Stanley Cup champions.

The Vancouver Canucks pieced together a three-game winning streak during their homestand, but a more serious test begins tonight when they visit the the St. Louis Blues.

As far as early season road contests go, it doesn’t get much tougher than this. The Blues are the defending Stanley Cup champions, and they’re off to a 3-1-2 start on the season. 2018-19 hero Jordan Binnington hasn’t hit his stride yet, but it’ll come any day now.

Vancouver won two of the three meetings last year, by scores of 6-1 and 5-1. However, the Blues avoided the season series sweep when they won 3-2 in a shootout, the final game of Vancouver’s 2018-19 season.

After this contest, the Canucks will visit the New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers and Detroit Red Wings. Extending the winning streak to four games against the defending champions would certainly be huge in growing this team’s confidence.

Players to watch

J.T. Miller: The 26-year-old tallied two goals in Tuesday’s win over the Red Wings, boosting his point total to seven on the year. Miller has six points in his last three games. Can he continue the torrid pace against a stingy St. Louis team?

Ryan O’Reilly: The reigning Conn Smythe and Selke Trophy winner hasn’t missed a beat from his career year. O’Reilly has one goal and six assists on the season, and he’ll be a difficult matchup for Vancouver’s top line tonight.

Elias Pettersson: Finally, the breakout performance fans were looking for. Pettersson scored one goal and picked up two assists in Tuesday’s win. It was only a matter of time until Pettersson found his elite form again. We’ll see what he can do against the champions tonight.

Brayden Schenn: So far, the eight-year deal worth $52 million is looking good for the Blues. Schenn has seven points on the season. He’s given Vancouver a fair share of problems throughout the years. The blue line will be tested heavily against Schenn and his linemates.

Prediction: 3-2 Blues (shootout)

I don’t like picking against a team that has gotten better and better each game during the young season, but the Canucks have it real tough tonight. The Blues can beat this team with their physicality, speed,overall skill and superior roster depth.

The Canucks will push the Blues hard, but when all is said and done, the streak will end with a 3-2 shootout loss. If this ends up being the case, Vancouver at least picks up a valuable road point.