St. Louis Blues: NHL Central Weekly Review (Opening Week 2016)

The St. Louis Blues could not have asked for a better opening week to their season. With a few bumps along the way, they have silenced the critics…for now.

The St. Louis Blues opened up the 2016-17 season like a house of fire. After one week and three games played, the Blues sit atop the entire league.

The Blues opened up the season against their bitter rivals, the Chicago Blackhawks. The entire team came to play and everyone played a role in gaining victory in the season opener.

Following that exciting 5-2 win, the Blues had a short turnaround. They faced fellow division rival, the Minnesota Wild the very next night.

Though the Wild kept the score closer, the result was the same. Jake Allen completely shrugged off any talk of injury by playing in back-to-back games and getting the win in both.

The weekend brought similar results with slightly worse news. The Blues held on for a 3-2 victory over the New York Rangers, but came out worse for wear.

The team lost three players to injury during that game, but won’t know the status of all three until their second week commences. For now, they are relying on a complete team effort to get the job done.

Vladimir Tarasenko has been a star to be sure. He has scored against the Blackhawks and Rangers, two teams he seems to own.

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On top of that, Paul Stastny has picked up where he started last season. He has been scoring left and right and might have more goals if he would not look to pass so often.

The team is hoping he can stay healthy this season. He began 2015-16 at a great pace and an injury derailed that, so a fit Stastny could mean good things if he stays on the ice.

The nice thing about this team is they are saying all the right things so far. Instead of soaking in the three game win streak, Tarasenko has basically said it means nothing.

Always good to not get too high on the wins or too down on the losses.  Still, as a fan, it’s nice to see early scoring when so many feared the goals would dry up

Blues’ Weekly Stats

Alexander Steen – 1G 3A 4P
Paul Stastny – 2G 4A 6P
Nail Yakupov – 1G 1A 2P
Robby Fabbri – 0G 2A 2P
Vladimir Tarasenko – 3G 2A 5P
Magnus Paajarvi – 1G 0A 1P
Patrik Berglund – 0G 2A 2P
Scottie Upshall – 1G 0A 1P
Kevin Shattenkirk – 1G 2A 3P
Alex Pietrangelo – 1G 1A 2P
Colton Parayko – 0G 2A 2P
Jake Allen – 36 saves/40 shots, .900 save percentage, 2.00 goals against
Carter Hutton – 33 saves/35 shots, .943 save percentage, 2.00 goals against

View from the Midwest Division Recap

Looking Forward

The Blues first road trip of the season won’t be an easy one. Not so much due to the teams they are playing, but more because of the trip they must make.

It’s time for the first grueling trip across western Canada. The Blues will open up the week on Tuesday with a game against the Vancouver Canucks.

The Canucks are currently 2-0 on the year. They haven’t been stellar in either game, but have shown some metal by coming from behind to win both.

St. Louis then travels east to face the Calgary Flames. Calgary is 0-2-1 to star the week.

They have been a mess. Despite adding some talent we thought might make them a playoff contender, they continue to bleed goals left and right. Beware facing a former goaltender when you follow the Blues though.

The team ends the week in Edmonton. The Oilers are off to a pretty good start at 2-1-0.

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Like their Alberta sibling, they are giving up goals for fun. The thing saving them is they are scoring even more. They will be a tough task for the Blues defense to handle.

The injuries will thin out the Blues scoring. They are likely to move some current players to center and fill in on the wings, but we will see how it all plays out.