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ST. LOUIS -- The matchup between the Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues will be one of the highlights of the NHL season on Jan. 2, when the two teams meet outdoors in the Winter Classic at Busch Stadium.Coach Ken Hitchcock and the Blues have not even begun to think about that game, however. They have another game with the visiting Blackhawks first, coming up on Saturday night.Chicago comes into the game off a 5-4 win over the Islanders on Thursday night in New York, improving to 4-0-1 in its last five games. One of the keys to the win was a revived power play, which produced three goals. That was one more goal than the Blackhawks had scored on the power-play in their previous games this month.That power-play will be put to the test against St. Louis, which beat the New Jersey Devils 5-2 on Thursday night to improve its home record to 11-0-3 in the last 14 games.The Blues killed off two power play chances for the Devils, and have now killed off 19 of opponents last 20 chances with a man advantage. They own the second-best penalty kill percentage in the league.For the season, St. Louis allowed only five power-play goals in 62 chances in their 18 home games.Thats just one of the reasons behind the success at Scottrade Center, where Jake Allen -- expected to start in goal for the seventh consecutive game -- is 11-0-2 this season.Key to Thursday nights win, in addition to one goal and two assists from a red-hot Vladimir Tarasenko, was goals from three forwards who have been struggling to score this season.Jori Lehtera scored his fourth goal in 26 games, Patrik Berglund his second in 31 games (into an empty net) and Nail Yakupov his third in 19 games.Getting more contributions from those players would increase the Blues chances of continuing to play so well at home.It seems at home weve got some good chemistry going, said defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, who also scored against the Devils. We rotated pretty much everybody tonight, and everybody had good legs.Added Tarasenko, I feel like we feel more confident here. So now we have a job to do to -- figure out why our road record (4-9-1) is not really good. I feel pretty good about our team this year and we still have a lot of time. We believe in our work, we believe in our coaching staff and try to stay as close as we can together to try and win games like this.The Blackhawks will be without starting goalie Corey Crawford, who has been out since undergoing an appendectomy on Dec. 3. He skated on Thursday for the first time since the surgery but there is still no timetable for his return.Center Jonathan Toews did return to the lineup this week after a back injury forced him to miss nine games. Tyler Herro Heat Jersey . LOUIS -- Cardinals cleanup hitter Allen Craig says hes recovered from a foot injury and ready to be put on St. Goran Dragic Heat Jersey . - Blake Griffin had 30 points and 12 rebounds, J. https://www.heatlockerroom.com/James-Johnson-City-Edition-Jersey/ . Louis Blues absence from top spot in the TSN. Alonzo Mourning Heat Jersey . Ouellette, from Montreal, already has three Olympic gold medals since joining the team in 1999. Shaquille ONeal Jersey . PETERSBURG, Fla. SAN ANTONIO -- San Antonio Spurs guard Danny Green refuses to visualize potential eyesight issues as the culprit in a subpar 2015-16 campaign, in which he finished with the second-lowest three-point shooting percentage of his career (33.2).Still, that didnt stop the eighth-year veteran from undergoing LASIK eye surgery shortly after the teams loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference semifinals.My eyesight wasnt that bad to begin with, Green said.Perhaps thats true. But Green knocked down just 30.1 percent from three-point range during the 2015 calendar year; this, after connecting on better than 40 percent from long range over his first four seasons in San Antonio.San Antonio waited and waited throughout the season for Green to shake the slump. Then, it appeared Greens struggles were finally subsiding when in January he nailed 49.1 percent from long range. But after the All-Star break, Green watched his three-point shooting percentage sink to 27.7 percent.Then, surprisingly, Green found his shot again in the playoffs; hitting 24 of his 48 attempts from three-point range.Im not gonna say it was [vision issues], Green said. I got the procedure done, [and] it helps. But that wasnt the reason why I was shooting poorly. Some seasons, you have good ones. Sometimes, you have bad ones. Sometimes, its due to adjusting to chemistry. Sometimes its due to injury. Sometimes, you just dont shoot it well. Sometimes, its mental.For me, its just really building that confidence back up mentally, physically staying healthy, fitting into this system and jelling with these guys as fast as possible so that Im adjusted well, and can pick and choose my spots so I dont shoot as poorly as I did last year.Green cant afford to, considering more than 60 percent of his shots come from 3-point range, and the fact hes struggled throughout his career to create off the dribble. Green hits just 27.4 percent on pull-up attempts, and he compensated for the long-range shootiing woes by attempting fewer shots, which caused his usage rate to dip to a career-low 14.dddddddddddd6 percent.Hes always been able to space the floor with how well he shoots, forward Kyle Anderson said. But it just takes it to another level when hes consistent with that 40 percent [connection rate]. We know hell hit shots. We depend on him, and we know hell knock them down. Hes a proven shooter in this league. So with him on the floor, regardless, we have faith in him to take that next shot.Interestingly, Greens prowess on defense made up last season for what he lacked on the offensive end, according to Spurs coach Gregg Popovich.Greens plus-2.9 defensive rating in ESPNs real plus-minus (RPM) led all shooting guards, as he blocked 2.4 percent of opponents 2-point attempts.I just beat him up, and say, What have you done for us lately? Gregg Popovich joked. Im not sure that [LASIK surgery is] gonna [be] a significant factor in his recovery. Hell be fine. He always plays good defense. So hell make more shots this year. It just happens. Its called sports. Sometimes, hitters dont hit.Other times, players wind up taking hits, which is why Green practiced for the first time on Wednesday after missing the first week of training camp and the clubs exhibition opener at Phoenix due to a thigh bruise.Popovich estimated that Green participated Wednesday in approximately 75 percent of the teams workout, but the expectation is the third-longest tenured Spur outside of Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili will play on Saturday when San Antonio hosts the Atlanta Hawks at the AT&T Center.Its just turning the page, Green said of last season. Its in the past. Its just the life of a shooter. You cant think about the last shot or the last game. You have to think about the next one. The next one could change the whole momentum of any game or any situation. ' ' '