Given the recent history between the two teams, it seems almost blasphemous to say. However, fans of the note must now become fans of the fins.
St. Louis Blues fans suddenly have a rather distasteful choice in front of them. They can either be one of those people and actually root for their team to not make the playoffs, which won’t really affect the future of this team much. Or, they can now root for the San Jose Sharks. Neither are particularly easy to swallow.
Sure, rooting for San Jose sits much easier than rooting for Chicago or Detroit or Nashville. However, they just have so many players you like to dislike.
Joe Thornton has been a thorn in the Blues side for years. Joe Pavelski was annoying, but did not really do much to stick in your craw until he became captain deflection, managing to tip in everything. Brent Burns is a great player, but he bothers me – who knows if it is the beard or the missing teeth. They’re like children – fans of the Sharks love them like mothers, but not many else do.
For now, the Blues and their fans must be Sharks fans for a night tonight. San Jose takes on the Colorado Avalanche tonight in the Avs final game other than their contest against the Blues on April 7.
Some might ask why we need to root for San Jose. Even if Colorado wins, the Blues are not mathematically eliminated. While that is true, you want Colorado to lose so you have more room for error, which clearly the Blues need after their performance in their final home game of the season.
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If Colorado loses to San Jose, you remain a point behind with two games to go. In that scenario, you can still lose to Chicago in Chicago and have everything on the line in the Colorado game.
If Colorado loses, the tie breaker scenario becomes slightly less likely. It would still be possible, but then the Blues would only need a point in Chicago and a win in Colorado.
If the Avalanche win, then the Blues have no margin for error whatsoever. If the Sharks cannot defeat Colorado, then the Blues must win both their Chicago game and Colorado game. You also take away the margin for error for going to overtime in Colorado. That extra point for the Avs would force tie breaker scenarios, most of which favor the Blues but would still make things uncomfortable.
The loss to the Blackhawks in St. Louis stings all the more because the Blues are not fully in control anymore. They still control their destiny more than NBC would have you believe. Even if Colorado beats San Jose, the Blues would get in if St. Louis can win their final two games.
St. Louis also has not had much luck rooting for other teams. The Blues needed Minnesota to beat Anaheim to keep any chance of getting to the first wild card alive. That was dashed when the Wild could not beat a beaten up Ducks team. Now, the only chance of the playoffs is the eighth spot and a date with Nashville.
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Still, it would be the playoffs and anything can happen. I am hard headed and you will never convince me missing the postseason would be a good thing. Love him or hate him, Doug Armstrong knows the issues with this team and will try to make adjustments, whether the team makes it or not. So, why miss it if you can help your franchise financially with a few playoff games?
Nope, it is time to root for San Jose. It does not help the Blues much, but it would be enough to give this Jekyll and Hyde team a little margin for error, which they clearly need.