The St. Louis Blues had three games to finish up the regular season. They started the week off very well, but it all came crashing down in the final game.
The St. Louis Blues went into the final week of the season with plenty to play for. They still had to fend off the Chicago Blackhawks for the second position in the division and also still had a chance for the division title.
If the Blues had won it would have been their third division title in five years. But there was much to do before that could even be a possibility.
The Blues were behind the eight ball a little already since the Dallas Stars had the tie-breaker and had games against the Colorado Avalanche and Nashville Predators.
St. Louis opened the week off right by taking care of business against the Arizona Coyotes. They didn’t get the game opened up right, falling behind by two goals in the first period. Once the Blues woke up though, they started firing to the tune of five goals total and a 5-2 win.
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The Blues then went on the road for a potential playoff preview against the hated Blackhawks. Again, St. Louis didn’t get off to a fantastic start. The Blues played a pretty poor game up until the last few minutes of the contest. The Blues trailed by a goal heading into the end and then Vladimir Tarasenko scored both the tying goal and the game winner in overtime to gain an emotional 2-1 victory over their rivals.
So, the Blues went into the final game with the Washington Capitals with a chance to steal the division still remaining. They needed to win and have Dallas lose to the Predators. Unfortunately, neither happened.
In a turn of events from the previous games, the Blues had a fantastic first two minutes, including a Tarasenko goal. Then everything went sour, from offense to defense to goaltending. The Blues got squashed to the tune of 5-1.
Blues’ Weekly Stats
Scottie Upshall – 0G 2A 2P
Patrick Berglund – 1G 0A 1P
Troy Brouwer -1G 0A 1P
Kyle Brodziak – 2G 0A 2P
Vladimir Tarasenko - 4G 1A 5P
Paul Stastny – 0G 2A 2P
Alexander Steen – 0G 1A 1P
Kevin Shattenkirk – 0G 2A 2P
Alex Pietrangelo – 0G 4A 4P
Robert Bortuzzo – 0G 1A 1P
Colton Parayko – 0G 1A 1P
Brian Elliott – 71 saves/78 shots, .910 save percentage, 2.96 goals against
Anders Nilsson – 9 saves/ 10 shots, .900 save percentage, 3.00 goals against.
View from the Midwest Weekly Division Recap
Looking Forward
With the Stars winning and the Blues losing their final games, the Blues/Blackhawks matchup was set. Now it’s up to the Blues to take care of business.
The Blackhawks might be the most prone they’ve ever been in this current run. They will be without one of their top defenseman in Duncan Keith. Even if Corey Crawford starts in game one, he will not have played in about a month and the Blues already proved they could beat Scott Darling when they actually shoot.
The Blackhawks are also coming off a disappointing end to the regular season having lost to Columbus in their finale.
There is no official word on the status of either David Backes or Jake Allen, but the rumblings are that Allen will be fit to be the backup and Backes should be fine at some point soon if not for game one.
Next: Blues Proving They Can Win
With or without those players, the Blues are still as healthy as they have been in quite some time. Robby Fabbri came back for the season finale and Jay Bouwmeester and Carl Gunnarsson also returned from late season injuries.
If/when the Blues get back Allen and Backes, they will be primed and loaded for the postseason. How long it lasts is up to them.
The Blues will open up the playoffs at home on Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. and then game two will be on Friday at 7 p.m. Game three will be in Chicago at 2 p.m.