Photo: Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images

See, the Blues didn’t think it was enough to pound us 5-1 at their rink last week. They’ve just signed a 19-year-old rookie phenom draft pick, and they’re coming into our house hoping to do it again.

Jaden Schwartz, having finished up a 30-game, 41-point sophomore season with Colorado College, inked an entry-level deal on Monday and will be in the lineup tonight against the Blackhawks. Of the 15 goals Schwartz pumped in for the Tigers this year, 5 were on the power play, and 4 were game-winners. And guess what? All of those numbers were down from his freshman year!

You should insert your favorite Spaceballs joke here, by the way…

Schwartz bolsters a Blues offense that has not been a shining example of efficiency or production, but one that had no trouble manhandling Chicago last week. Andy McDonald got on the board twice, with Jason Arnott, T.J. Oshie and Vladimir Sobotka all notching tallies as well. This while strangling the Blackhawks’ offense, holding the Men of Four Feathers to just 20 shots on goal, making it an easy night for goaltender Jaroslav Halak.

That was one of the 9 wins that St. Louis has in the last 10 games. Did you read that correctly? St. Louis is 9-1-0 in their last 10. They sit in first place in the league with 97 points, and own the best goals-against in the league as well. Apart from the addition of Schwartz, this will be essentially the same team that gave us the dirty swirly one week ago today.

Chicago, for its part, hasn’t changed a whole lot since last week either. We did welcome the return of defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson, and overall our blueline corps did solidify around six players — that is, until Sami Lepisto got hurt, and now he’s gone too. He joins Steve Montador and (yes, sorry…) Captain Jonathan Toews as no-shows for tonight’s game.

Between the pipes, Head Coach Joel Quenneville has been sticking with Ray Emery, despite his being the victim of that 5-goal shellacking by the Blues last week. In his last 6 starts Rayzer is 4-1-1, with his OTL coming in what could be argued was a terrific performance against Los Angeles on Sunday — allowing 2 goals through 65 minutes and then fighting off 5 shootout attempts before succumbing on the 6th. Pity the Blackhawks’ offense wasn’t there to support his effort.

Other players of note for the Blackhawks include Patrick Kane, who tallied his 5th goal (7th point) in 7 games on Sunday. And the reviews on the newly-acquired Johnny Oduya continue to trend higher, and his pairing with rookie Nick Leddy has made it seem like Leddy’s game is improving — although I was surprised to find that the numbers don’t actually show that to be the case.

Administrative nonsense: St. Louis will be without the services of forwards Alexander Steen and Matt D’Agostini, as well as defensemen Kent Huskins and Kris Russell; Chicago is minus Toews, Lepisto and Montador. No starting goaltenders have been confirmed as of this writing, but you should expect to see Halak and Emery manning the creases.

7:30pm start at the United Center this evening. Comcast SportsNet presents your TV coverage; WGN AM-720 has the game on broadcast radio; XM subscribers will find the game on channel 204; and Sirius Premiere customers should set their dials to channel 218.

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