St. Louis Blues Morning Links: Big Test In Minnesota
Good morning Blues fans! While we were basking in the glow of what feels like a rare victory over the defending champions, the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Blues were moving on. They have a big test tonight with a divisional rival.
The St. Louis Blues are in Minnesota tonight. Coming off their very positive shutout win over the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Blues now have the challenge to actually build upon their success.
That has been hard to come by in recent times. The Blues two game win streak over San Jose and Anaheim not long ago was their first back to back wins since November.
Of course, the Blues failed to capitalize on that momentum losing three in a row before upsetting the Pens. Now the Blues are in a similar position.
They had positive points to their play but could not win in Winnipeg, similar to their loss to L.A. Then the Blues beat two talented west coast teams. St. Louis has a chance to make that road trip a carbon copy to this one if they can keep the upset train rolling against the Wild.
That is not going to be easy. While the Blues have typically struggled with those west coast teams, those teams were not crushing the league. Minnesota currently is.
The Wild are tops in the Western Conference in points and goals. They also have the second best goal difference in the entire NHL.
So, when the Blues typically struggle to score and defend and the Wild do both for fun, that doesn’t spark a lot of confidence in a St. Louis win. How many of us thought they would beat Pittsburgh though?
The Penguins defense has not been other worldly, but they lead the league in goals and the Blues surprisingly shut them out. They need another performance like that to keep things going.
If the Blues are to make the playoffs, they need to win more than they lose the entire second half. That’s not meaning going .500 either. If you simply won two for every loss, they’d be in fine shape.
The team actually has to win two in a row to accomplish that though. Since most of us are from Missouri, we will believe it when we see it.
Here are your St. Louis Blues Morning Links to get your day started off right.
The St. Louis Blues know who their starting goaltender is for tonight. It doesn’t necessarily fit with the team’s long term plans, but it is the smart choice given how things have played out recently. (STLToday)
Hockey is going head to head with the environment in a rather odd battle. What seemed like a sure thing – a new ice rink facility in Creve Coeur that would become the Blues practice facility – was met with some opposition at the latest round of meetings about it. These are not your stereotypical everything is bad environmentalists though as they are not opposed to a rink, but more where it is proposed to be built. (Post Dispatch)
Some fans are all about the All-Star festivities and others are more passive about it. That said, this three-on-three tournament style matchup is at least intriguing even though the Blues will typically only have one player involved. That said, the Blues’ star Vladimir Tarasenko is getting recognition as a player that could change the face of the game. (SB Nation)
Next: Trading For A Goaltender A Terrible Idea
Speaking of All-Star festivities, the Blues might have figured into a rather big name missing the actual game coming up. Evgeni Malkin will not be avaiable for the game and apparently it might have been due to a Blues defenseman. (NHL)
Players in pro sports with famous fathers usually have to live in the shadow of their predecessor. Some were worried that might slow the progress of Matthew Tkachuk. However the son of the former Blue still looks up to his father but has already blazed his own path. (ESPN)
Have a great day Blues fans!