St. Louis Blues Morning Links: Senators To Capitals

Good morning Blues fans! It’s another glorious day for a game. The clouds are out and the weather is meh. You couldn’t ask for anything more

The St. Louis Blues are back at it again tonight. After dropping a mediocre performance against the Ottawa Senators, the Note now takes on the red-hot Washington Capitals.

It’s all about which Blues team we see tonight in terms of how things could go. As usual, if we get the Blues team we saw on the road in San Jose and Anaheim, there is a good chance for victory. If we see that other team that likes to play dress up in Blues uniforms, it might be a bloodbath.

The Capitals are currently tied atop the Eastern Conference in points right now. That did not used to hold much weight, but suddenly the East is where the power lies and the Caps have plenty of it.

Washington scores a ton and keeps it out as well. The Caps have the third best goal differential in the entire league.

St. Louis is nowhere near that. The Blues actually aren’t that bad at scoring. They only have ten fewer goals than the Capitals due at this point in the season.

Surprisingly, it is defensively that the Blues are lacking. Terrible defense combined with sub-par goaltending have St. Louis giving up a whopping 41 more goals than the Capitals have.

It helps to know they are in the other conference. What doesn’t help is that in the past the Blues would have been the top team in the East no matter what.

Now they would barely be a playoff team in that conference. If not for the inconsistencies of other Central Division teams, the Blues might not currently be a playoff team in their own conference.

There has just been too many ups and downs. The GM can say he expected this, but that’s garbage. I refuse to believe the loss of three players can mean that much when their production was not irreplaceable.

All credit to those that still support and love David Backes. He’s not the difference between this team squeaking in or being a title contender though. There’s just some form of focus lacking and maybe that’s where he is missed.

The Blues need to get back on track at least for one game. You can’t have a lapse against a team that is 9-0-1 in their last 10.

Pray to whoever or whatever you choose. It could get messy if the team is not at their peak performance.

Here are your St. Louis Blues Morning Links to get your day started off right.

The only thing more consistent than the Blues inconsistency is the media and fan’s ability to point it out. St. Louis is at a point where this might be who they are, since they cannot build on good performances. (KSDK)

The Blues used to be able to depend on getting two points at home. Now, even that has dried up and the play is iffy at best. The one good thing is the Blues finally have a full compliment of healthy players to choose from tonight. (STLToday)

One of the keys to success for the Minnesota Wild has been remaining injury free. The conference leaders have not seen many names miss any extended time until now. It might not be a scorer, but the Wild’s defense may suffer due to a certain broken finger. (ESPN)

Former St. Louis Blue, Doug Weight was unexpectedly thrust into the limelight when his head coach was fired with the New York Islanders. Weight is now the head honcho in Brooklyn, a city that does not wait for much. Even so, the current interim coach is preaching patience. (ESPN)

Next: Trade Targets: Derek Stepan

Looking down on the farm, it’s been quite opposite of the Blues. While the Wolves dropped a couple lately, they have been quite consistent in both play and results. Topping the team has been Pheonix Copley, who is riding a six game win streak. (Wolves)

The NHL’s future is quite bright with their current crop of young stars joining the high profile veterans the league already has. Patrick Laine is ready to rejoin that group after missing several games with concussion symptoms. (NHL)

Have a great day Blues fans!