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Blues won’t have Alex Pietrangelo for Game 2, maybe longer

Alex Pietrangelo, Lars Eller

St. Louis Blues’ Alex Pietrangelo (27) controls the puck in front of Montreal Canadiens’ Lars Eller (81) during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Thursday, March 10, 2011 in St. Louis.(AP Photo/Tom Gannam)

AP

Depending on whom you ask, St. Louis Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo is either a stride behind, a stride ahead or just-plain-equal to semi-famous Los Angeles Kings blueliner Drew Doughty. In fact, he might have enjoyed a demonstratively better 2011-12 season. Wherever you stand there, the Kings will get the upper hand in that battle in Game 2 because Pietrangelo won’t even be on the ice according to Dennis Bernstein.

In fact, Bernstein reports that it “may be longer than a one-game absence.”

The talented, under-the-radar defenseman didn’t leave Game 1 right away after taking a controversial boarding hit from Kings winger Dwight King but eventually missed the rest of the contest. St. Louis was upset that King didn’t receive a double-minor or even a major penalty for that hit, but either way, the Blues fell to the Kings (and King) in Game 1.

The Blues are a team that’s very familiar with fighting through key injuries - particularly “upper body ones” as we’ve seen with Andy McDonald and David Perron in particular - but Pietrangelo joins David Backes as the most “indispensable” players on a deep roster. Beating the too-good-to-be-an-eight-seed Kings was already a tough task, yet doing it without a borderline Norris-worthy defenseman will be that much tougher.

Ken Hitchcock’s Jack Adams credentials will be put to the test once again - starting tonight at 9 pm ET on CNBC.