St. Louis Blues Morning Links: Can The Blues Make It Three?

Good morning Blues fans! The Blues face the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight for the second time in less than a week. The big question is whether they can put together an actual streak though.

The St. Louis Blues have a rather rare opportunity tonight, at least when it comes to the 2016-17 season. They have the chance to actually put together a true winning streak.

Ernie Banks used to famously say, “Let’s play two.” Well, the Blues have enough two game winning pairs right now. They don’t have nearly enough of three or more.

In fact, the Blues longest winning streak is still at four. That was way back toward the end of November.

Since that time, St. Louis has only put together three two game streaks. That’s just not nearly enough for a team claiming they want to contend, not just for the playoffs but for some hardware.

Well, it is pretty much put up or shut up time in this season. The Blues can continue to flounder and still sneak into the postseason.

There are enough teams below them in the same boat that they don’t have to worry every single night. However, if they really want to be a true playoff contender and maybe, just maybe, be considered for more, they need to start stringing together win streaks, not just a couple wins here and there.

It’s not going to be easy though. The Toronto Maple Leafs are not the pushover the Blues made them look like just a few days ago.

There was so much going on for that game. The Blues had the emotion of a coaching switch and the Bobby Plager jersey retirement.

It would have been an embarrassment to the team if they had not played with guts and heart on that night. Can they replicate that though?

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We’ve seen some great wins the last couple nights. St. Louis is coming off back-to-back shutouts for the first time all season.

The defense has still not played up to snuff, but they have seen marked improvements. Can that continue? Will the Blues still get great goaltending from the resurgent Jake Allen?

It stinks as a fan to have reached a point where you literally question all these things. Most nights we should go into games with the confidence that our team is going to go out there and perform.

However, after being burned so many times, we are hesitant to go near the stove now. The Blues have to coax us back out like a kitten hiding in the corner.

The easiest way to do that is to win tonight and then maybe take another game or two on this Canadian road trip. That’s not going to be easy to do, but the Blues have to get a multi-game streak going in the W column eventually.

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

Fans have been clamoring for years to see Paul Stastny and Vladimir Tarasenko play together. While that combination has seen mixed results to this point, one thing is for sure. Coach Mike Yeo is giving them time to acclimate to each other instead of changing things up every other shift. (STLToday)

Jeremy Rutherford, always doing fine work, has all the particulars you need to know about tonight’s game in Toronto. (Post-Dispatch)

The story of Kevin Shattenkirk has seen more ups and downs than Days of Our Lives. The hot and cold nature of the rumor mill is frightening at times. Even with it being in a cool period, plenty of people still use the word “must” when it comes to the idea of dealing out the defenseman. (Inquisitr)

Most Blues fans scratched their head or shrugged when it was announced Magnus Paajarvi would be recalled with Kenny Agostino. Despite the relative disdain most have for him, Paajarvi has been beneficial to the team in the brief time he has been back with the Blues. (STLToday)

Next: Blues Ratings Sky High Even In Mediocre Year

Seeing the Stanley Cup can be a thrilling or emotional experience for any hockey fan. The Cup travels all around and I was able to see it in St. Louis. However, seeing it in Toronto at the Hockey Hall of Fame is something in and of itself. (St. Louis Gametime)

The Minnesota Wild picked up a rare loss last night. Unfortunately for us, that was not a good thing since it was to the Chicago Blackhawks. (NHL)

Have a great day Blues fans!