Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith said games like this sometimes hap

Two years ago the St Louis Blues were a couple of games from reaching the Stanley Cup Finals. Today Scott Wedgewood Jersey Womens , they are near last in the Western Conference standings and dealing with trade rumors ahead of their matchup with the red-hot Colorado Avalanche.According to TSN Canada, the Blues are interested in trading for Detroit goaltender Jimmy Howard, who was in net when the Red Wings beat St. Louis on Wednesday night. It would mean moving away from current No. 1 goalie Jake Allen.It’s what happens when a team is struggling like the Blues.Article continues below ...St. Louis (8-12-3) has lost two in a row and seven of its last 10. Four of those losses came with captain Alexander Steen out with an injury, but he returned to the lineup against Detroit. He played on the fourth line after spending the first part of the season on the third line.“It’s always tough sitting out,” Steen told The St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Wednesday. “I used the time as well as I could to get myself back to a place where I could play.”St. Louis did make a move Thursday, placing forward Nikita Soshnikov on waivers. Defenseman Robert Bortuzzo, who has missed all but five games with a lower-body injury, could be activated.It might be hard for the Blues to turn things around Friday in Denver. The Avalanche (15-6-4) have won six straight after Wednesday’s 6-3 win over Pittsburgh and the top line of Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Gabe Landeskog have been nearly unstoppable this season.The trio combined for eight of Colorado’s 16 points on Wednesday Conor Sheary Jersey Womens , with Landeskog scoring the game-winning goal late in the third period.Rantanen (42 points) and MacKinnon (40 points) are 1-2 in scoring in the NHL.“Obviously, we’ve been finding ways to create some offense here this season and at this point, you just kind of want to keep it going and keep contributing offensively and being reliable defensively,” Landeskog said after Wednesday’s win.The top line has been producing despite facing every team’s top defensive pairing and top line on a nightly basis. Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said it’s the best line he’s seen this season after it dominated Wednesday night.“They’re not easy to contain,” he said. “It’s not an easy challenge. That line, they’re three elite players that are all on the same line.”The Blues will have to slow down the trio if they want to stop their losing streak. Colorado has scored the most goals (95) in the NHL entering Thursday’s slate of games and is a point behind Nashville in the Central Division.Friday’s game will also serve as a reunion for St. Louis center Ryan O’Reilly. He was a second-round pick of the Avalanche in the 2009 draft and spent his first six seasons in Colorado. He was traded to Buffalo in 2015 and then to St. Louis last summer.He leads the Blues in goals (12), assists (15) and scoring (27). He’s been a solid addition but the Blues might not be done dealing if TSN’s reporting is accurate. NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — The New Jersey Devils‘ highest-scoring game of the season came on a night the Chicago Blackhawks may have played one of their worst games.Kyle Palmieri and Blake Coleman each scored twice, and the Devils rode a five-goal second period to an 8-5 victory over the struggling Blackhawks on Monday night.“There (were) things in our game plan that we didn’t execute and weren’t detailed enough on Tage Thompson Jersey Womens ,” said Palmieri, who had the first two goals in the big second period. “You’re not going to score eight goals every night. There’s definitely some stuff to tighten up but it was a win. It was good we found a way to win.”Travis Zajac, Sami Vatanen, Kevin Rooney and Brett Seney also scored as the Devils won consecutive games for only the third time since opening the season with four straight wins. Rookie goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood made 27 saves in winning for the fifth time in seven decisions.Despite the win, the Devils are 11 points out of a playoff spot.“Sometimes we will play really well and win,” Devils forward Brian Boyle said. “Sometimes it will come ugly. It’s going to come different ways, but we have to stay with it because we’ve dug ourselves a pretty big hole.”Patrick Kane scored twice and set up two others for the Blackhawks, who are 1-3-3 in their last seven. Brent Seabrook, Dominik Kahun and Brandon Saad also scored for Chicago Dalton Prout Jersey Womens , which left goaltenders Cam Ward and Collin Delia defenseless most of the game in giving up at least seven goals for the fifth time this season. The eight goals against tied the most given up by the Blackhawks this season.Chicago coach Jeremy Colliton wants his team to forget the game but realize it can’t happen again.“That wasn’t us,” he said. “Those were valuable points and a winnable game and we just didn’t have near our best effort. So learn not to do that again.”After Kane tied the game 1-all with a power-play goal at 3:07 of the second period, Palmieri and the Devils took over.Palmieri beat Ward on a breakaway to put the Devils ahead a little more than two minutes after the Kane goal. He stretched the lead to two goals 3:11 later with a shot Ward didn’t seem to see. The goal originally was credited to Boyle but later was awarded to Palmieri for his 22nd of the season.Zajac tapped in a rebound, Vatanen tallied on a power play and Rooney scored on a rebound for his first NHL goal to stretch the lead to 6-1.Kane closed the gap with his second goal and set up Seabrook’s 100th career goal in the final 1:41 of the second period, but the Blackhawks never threatened until Saad scored late to make it 7-5.Chicago pulled Delia, but Coleman, who had scored the Devils’ first goal on a breakaway, tallied into an empty net.“We got to learn from that. We did lots of good things but we played somewhat an immature game at times,” Devils coach John Hynes said. “We get up 6-1 and we just go to sleep at the end of the second and you can’t do that. It’s excellent that we found a way to win the game.”Veteran Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith said games like this sometimes happen.“I know when we were competing hard and playing as a team Elias Lindholm Jersey Womens , we can play with other teams, every team in the league, be competitive and have a chance to win,” said Keith, who was minus-5 in the game. “I don’t think tonight we really did that, to give ourselves a chance.”NOTES: The Devils placed F Stefan Noesen (lower body) on injured reserve and recalled D Egor Yakovlev from Binghamton earlier in the day. … Chicago will play host to New Jersey on Feb. 14. … Kane has 14 goals and 22 assists on the road this season. … Chicago’s Alex DeBrincat had a four-game goal-scoring streak snapped and defenseman Erik Gustafsson had a career-best eight-game assist streak ended.UP NEXTBlackhawks: At the New York Rangers on Thursday.Devils: At the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday.