Brad Boyes: Case of the Saturday Night Fever

Brad Boyes has definitely been the St. Louis Blues' go-to guy this year! He is leading the team in goals with 25,and also leads in points with 50. So I was curious how Brad Boyes does on Saturday games?

Well, let's look at his stats for this year on Saturdays: In 16  Saturday games, Brad Boyes has 18 pts [Eight goals, 10 assists, and +2. His shooting percentage is 17 percent, and he's 3-for-3 on the powerplay].

As the Blues face  Phoenix tonight on a Saturday, I might assume that Brad Boyes will possibly  have some points in this huge game! The Blues come into this game only three pts out of that eighth spot in the West.

With a record of 27-26-8 and currently one of the NHL's hottest teams, the Blues are 21-17-7 in their conference, and Phoenix is only 20-24-4 in their conference. St.Louis seems to have an edge statistically, and their penalty kills have been superb.

In the last seven games, the Blues' opposition has had 25 power plays; the Blues have killed 24 of those power plays. Last year, at this exact time, the Blues in those seven games killed 27 of 31 opposing power plays.

St. Louis will need to get their power play scoring soon though. In the last seven games, the Blues have only scored two power play goals on 21 chances. Last year at this time in those seven games the Blues were 8-for-36 on power plays. So basically last year we were struggling on the power play, yet still getting a very good penalty kill.

The Blues are 2-0 against Phoenix this year and went 0-4 last year; Legace played all four of those games last year. Mason and Legace have split the two victories against Phoenix this year.

Certainly with Mason playing so well for this playoff run, Blues fans wouldn't be surprised to see another tight game tonight. Mason has a record of 1-0, with a 1.00 GAA and a .960 SPCT in one game against Phoenix this year.

Last year he was 0-1-1, with a 4.43 GAA,and a .830 SPCT; Mason has improved his game considerbly in the second half of the season.

In the last seven games the Blues have out shot their opponents 192-181,and they have outscored their opponents 13-9 in those games. Also those seven games have been decided by one goal.

The Blues are 5-2 in their last seven games.Last year at this time the Blues were 2-5 and continued to lose games through out the rest of the season. As a matter of fact in their last 19 games from this time last year; the Blues managed to record only five victories.

So they were 5-14 in their last 19 last year and also had two six-game losing streaks in that same time frame. I don't think St. Louis wants to repeat those same mistakes they made at the end of last year!

Bottom line: The St. Louis Blues must continue their winning ways. They must continue their near perfect penalty killing, and they have to improve on the power play! Chris Mason will have to continue to play with the confidence and tenacity that has him winning games.

St. Louis will have to stay out of their on end of the ice and force the puck into the neutral zone in order to score goals.

Brad Boyes will have to be a part of this,and given his reputation as a sniper,he will be a hard force to stop.Boyes has been struggling as of late; he has only one goal in his last eight games.

So the team will look for him to help them get out of the "no goal hole".Besides it is Saturday; Boyes just might get a "Case of the Saturday Night Fever!" Which only means one thing for the Blues, and that's a victory.