St. Louis Blues Morning Links: Blues Howlingly Good

Good morning Blues fans! The St. Louis Blues swept their season series with the Arizona Coyotes but only gained a little out of the victory.

Sports can be a very strange thing, can’t they? The St. Louis Blues played their best game against the Arizona Coyotes out of the three they have played. However, the result was almost in doubt by the end of the game.

That’s why we actually play the games instead of figuring everything will be decided on paper. The Blues were the better team and actually showed it, but a bad bounce or unlucky call can change things and you have to roll with it.

In a strange twist of fate, the Blues played much better in this game than the previous ones. While the Blues won 3-0 and 4-1 against the Coyotes in the last two weeks, you felt the game should have been even further apart but St. Louis left too many chances untaken.

In this game, St. Louis pretty much had control the entire time. They had their highest shot total of the season, they defended pretty well and Carter Hutton was only called upon to make the occasional big save.

Nevertheless, if not for an empty net goal, the Blues would have only won by a final of 2-1. That’s how sports, especially hockey, go sometimes.

You play mediocre and win by three but you play well and only win by one or two. It’s a microcosm of life. It is not fair, but things aren’t always fair and you deal with it.

Fortunately, that’s what the Blues did. Patrik Berglund stepped up in the first period and scored, tying his career high for goals.

Vladimir Tarasenko kept on his quiet, hot-streak. I say quiet, because he’s just so unassuming about it and there is not much talk of it even though he’s got two goals and six points over his last five games and six goals over his last ten games.

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With David Perron‘s empty netter, he scored his 100th goal with the Blues. It also put him within five goals of his career high in a St. Louis uniform.

Additionally, the win put St. Louis in a more enviable position. Even if temporarily, they leap-frogged the Nashville Predators back into the third spot of the Central.

The Blues are also tied with Calgary on points and have a better Regulation + Overtime Wins mark. That means even if Nashville wins tonight, the Blues are in the top wild card spot.

St. Louis’ hot streak has placed them within striking distance of the Minnesota Wild. With only six games to go, they’d need some help, but only six points back is not impossible to make up and St. Louis could have home ice in the first round.

That was almost unimaginable a month ago. Now it is more than within the realm of possibility.

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

In case the game was on too late for you, or you fell asleep trying, here is the offical game recap along with highlights of all the goals. (NHL)

The St. Louis Blues could have clinched a playoff spot last night. Unfortunately, the L.A. Kings would not cooperate with their result. St. Louis is still on the cusp of having that little x next to their name in the standings though. (STLToday)

Carter Hutton might be one of the best backup goaltenders the Blues have ever had. Not so much due to pure talent, but more to his mindset. He knows his place and is still always ready to go and has delivered some fantastic performances no matter how long between games played. (Post-Dispatch)

There will be lots of speculation about who is going to be protected and available for the NHL Expansion Draft. We won’t have to wait long though, since the league announced it will make the lists public this summer. (NHL)

Everyone knew Auston Matthews was going to be special when he entered the league. One of the Maple Leafs’ greats said it took him about 20 minutes to know his records were in trouble. That came to pass last night as Matthews set a new franchise record for rookies. (ESPN)

When they first knew they’d be playing together, the Benn brothers had dreams of winning a championship together. After an awful start to the year for Dallas, those dreams crashed apart when Jordie was traded to Montreal. Now, only one of the brothers has any hope of winning this year and Jamie is happy for his older sibling. (ESPN)

Have a great day Blues fans!