In Thursday night NHL preseason action, the St. Louis Blues will travel to Nationwide Arena to take on the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Blues (49-22-11) ranked third in the NHL in goals scored (309) and lost to Colorado in the second round of the playoffs. Twenty-three year old Robert Thomas (20 goals, 57 assists) signed an eight-year extension in the offseason and is the centerpiece of a talented offensive roster.
On Tuesday, St. Louis raced out to a two-goal lead after one period and cruised to a 4-2 home victory versus Minnesota. LW Pavel Buchnevich scored and assisted on the two first period goals for the Blues.
The Columbus Blue Jackets scored a franchise record 258 goals last season, but failed to make the playoffs. For the Blue Jackets to take the next step, they must improve on a defense that surrendered 300 goals. Columbus made some minor improvement on defense through free agency and pulled off a major heist by signing LW Johnny Gaudreau (40 goals, 75 assists) away from Calgary.
On Monday, Columbus was outshot by a 45-26 margin during an ugly 8-1 road loss against Carolina. Yegor Chinakhov scored the first goal of the game for the Blue Jackets, who fell to 3-2-1 this preseason.
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