Music: {allcanada} Vancouver (6-6-1) at St. Louis (5-6-0)

Thursday, November 3, 2011

{allcanada} Vancouver (6-6-1) at St. Louis (5-6-0)

Vancouver (6-6-1) at St. Louis (5-6-0)

TV: RSNP, FSMW

Puck Drop: 8:00 pm EDT Fri Nov 4, 2011

While the Vancouver Canucks don't appear to be going totally away from Roberto Luongo (notes) at this point, the St. Louis Blues may be moving away from Jaroslav Halak (notes).

Luongo will likely be in goal for the visiting Canucks on Friday night while the Blues could go with Brian Elliott (notes) over a struggling Halak.

Both Luongo and Halak entered the season as clear No. 1 goaltenders for their respective teams, but neither has fared well. Luongo has a 3.20 goals-against average while Halak has been worse at 3.58.

Vancouver (6-6-1) rested Luongo for Thursday's 5-1 loss at Minnesota based on his 3-9-1 career record with one tie and a 3.56 GAA at the Xcel Energy Center. Cory Schneider (notes) took his place and performed valiantly in the defeat, making 40 saves for the Canucks.

"We lost 5-1 and our best player by far was our goaltender. That about can sum it up right there," coach Alain Vigneault said.

Schneider also lost his previous start, a 3-0 home loss to St. Louis (5-6-0) on Oct. 26. Elliott made 32 saves for his 10th career shutout and first with the Blues.

While Elliott suffered his first loss in his following start last Friday at Calgary, Halak fell to 1-5-0 after Sunday's 4-2 defeat at Edmonton.

"The feeling in the locker room is that this game is on us, not on our goalie," St. Louis defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk (notes) said. "We hung him out to dry."

The Blues, who have played a league-low three home games thus far, play six of their next seven at the Scottrade Center.

"We had a tough October as far as scheduling goes and it was a wearying traveling schedule," Shattenkirk said. "I think we would like to have a different result in the record category but I think we made some good progress as a team and I think as we go home here, we'll hopefully gain a little momentum and play well in front of our crowd."

St. Louis must show improvement on special teams. The Blues have converted an NHL-worst 8.3 percent of their power plays, and their penalty kill is among the league's worst at 72.2 percent.

Vancouver went 0 for 5 on the power play Thursday and was outshot 45-25. The Canucks failed to record their first three-game win streak of 2011-12, and fell to 1-1 on their six-game road trip.

"I think everyone's surprised. This has got to be one of the worst performances I've been a part of in this jersey," defenseman Kevin Bieksa (notes) said. "It was the defense, the goalies, the forwards, everybody, coaches, everyone was involved in this one. We all take the blame for it."

The Canucks played without fellow defenseman Sami Salo (notes), who was out with a sore groin and replaced by Andrew Alberts (notes).

Defenseman Aaron Rome (notes) could see his first action since his vicious hit on Nathan Horton (notes) in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup final at Boston. Rome has been out with a broken hand, but Vigneault indicated that he will return sometime on this trip.

The Blues are looking for inspiration from the World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals. Ace Chris Carpenter skated with the team in practice Thursday and retired manager Tony La Russa will drop the ceremonial first puck Friday.