St. Louis Blues: 4 Reasons To Fear The Boston Bruins And 3 Why Not To

Blues ARE That Good

The biggest thing so many national writers and analysts are forgetting is that the St. Louis Blues ARE that good. The same as the Bruins earned their spot in this championship round, so did St. Louis.

All we have read is that the Bruins are faster, meaner and tougher. I don’t see that anywhere or at least not it being the difference.

Winnipeg was faster and much bigger. That was not the difference in that series.

You could make the case that Dallas had more talent and the ability to be more physical. The Blues turned the tables on them.

San Jose certainly had more experience and more speed. A lot of their players were on the 2016 the beat the Blues in the Western Conference Final and played for a Stanley Cup. The Blues did not care and won that series.

The Blues won because they showed an amazing ability to stay on point in each game and stay focused on the task at hand. It is often something overlooked, but something as small as talking about focusing on the next round instead of focusing on playing for a Stanley Cup is a huge mental thing and shows they are not going to be overtaken by the moment.

That’s good coaching. That’s good ability by the players too.

For all this supposed dominance the Bruins supposedly have, they have done nothing better than the Blues. In fact, the Bruins have the exact number of goals scored as St. Louis.

The only difference is Boston played two fewer games. Taking nothing away from the opponents of the Bruins, but there is a reason they played two fewer games.

I fully admit to believing the Western Conference is tougher, both in travel and teams played. Even with that bias, I believe most people would take Winnipeg, Dallas and San Jose to win series over Toronto, Columbus and Carolina.

So, if the Blues went through the tougher road, would that not mean they have as good or better chance to win? Not based on most things I have read.

I would understand the idea of Boston winning a short series if they would make the case the Blues were worn down from playing so many tough games. Those arguments might exist, but not in the things I have seen. The idea seems to be just that Boston is that much better.

Where that comes from is beyond me. Boston swept the previous round, but were playing a talented team that was beset by injuries and getting by on will alone.

Boston is supposed to have this unbelievable offense. As shown, they have not scored any more than St. Louis and had fewer goals in the regular season.

Boston is good defensively, but only allowed eight fewer goals in the regular season than the Blues. Rask has been hot, but Binnington has only allowed six more goals than Rask and Binnington had to play in two extra games.

This series will be a lot tighter than some are giving it credit for. They are not giving the Blues enough credit either, as though this team was simply fortunate to get here and will be happy for the opportunity.

No, I reject that. This team is that good. They might not have been the best in the regular season, but this team always had the potential to be one of the best in the league and they showed it.

They are that good. Now, they have seven games to show that to the world.