Just when it seemed like it was safe to go in the water for the rest of the division, the St. Louis Blues became the mighty great white shark that all the fans want them to be. Will it last? Who knows, but it was a fun – if not nerve wracking – week.
St. Louis has hit a hot streak at just the right time. Their divisional opponents have given them a window by dropping some important games and the St. Louis Blues burst through that window. Coming off a somewhat embarrassing losing streak, the Blues now have a six game winning streak after going 3-0 this past week.
Not only have they run their streak to six and gone 3-0 this past week, but they won all their games in perhaps the toughest week of the season. Taking home three of six points from the week would have been seen as reasonably successful given the fact they were playing Chicago, Anaheim and Dallas.
Those opponents have a combined 119 wins and are all pretty much guaranteed playoff spots. The Blues just shrugged and took them all down. Granted, it wasn’t always pretty. They gave up a late goal to Chicago and failed to score an empty net goal against Dallas as well, allowing both games to go past regulation. That’s something that has become a bit of a scourge on this team.
Though it is very disappointing to give up points to the Blackhawks and Stars, thus not allowing the Blues to claim first place in the divison by themselves on two occasions, it is incredibly positive that the team defeated two teams they might play in the first round and took down all three teams that they have struggled with in the past.
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Given interactions with fans in the past, there is little doubt that people in Dallas and Chicago will be quick to whine about St. Louisans feeling like they won when the games went to shootouts or overtimes. Who cares? The Blues got the extra point and you can chalk it up to luck or skill, but the standings are what they are.
Blues’ Weekly Stats:
Robby Fabbri – G 0 A 4 P 4
Paul Stastny – G 1 A 4 P 5
David Backes – G 1 A 0 P 1
Vladimir Tarasenko – G 3 A 3 P 6
Troy Brouwer – G 2 A 0 P 2
Jori Lehtera – G 1 A 0 P 1
Patrik Berglund – G 1 A 0 P 1
Jaden Schwartz – G 0 A 3 P 3
Jay Bouwmeester – G 0 A 1 P 1
Kevin Shattenkirk – G 2 A 1 P 3
Alex Pietrangelo – G 1 A 1 P 2
Carl Gunnarsson – G 0 A 1 P 1
Jake Allen – 93 saves/101 shots .921 save percentage 2.58 goals against
On top of the great stats, Tarasenko was named the NHL’s #1 Star of the Week.
View from the Midwest Division Recap
Looking Forward
St. Louis has a lot of points in front of them with their own Canadian road trip on the docket. They absolutely cannot take any of these teams for granted, despite their opponents’ point totals.
They have games against Calgary on Monday, Edmonton on Wednesday and finish against Vancouver on Saturday. If they lay the way they have been lately, the Blues could have a win streak of nine by next week and be in first place by themselves.
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Unfortunately, these are the Blues we are talking about. That is not to imply they can’t win all their games this week. It is simply stating no matter how many wins the Blues string together between now and the end of the week, or even the end of the season, you can’t tell what this team will be.
The Blues could win out their remaining games and it wouldn’t give us any clearer picture of who they are or could be until we see them in the playoffs. This team has to show they can perform in a seven game series the way they did this past week. For now though, it’s enough that they strung together some really tough wins.