St. Louis Blues: Lost In The Cards, Blues Off To Perfect Start

Despite winning a Stanley Cup this summer, the St. Louis Blues are not the only thing on the fan’s mind to start the year, which is a shame, because the Blues are really good.

This is not an indictment on St. Louis Blues and St. Louis Cardinals fans because I know the city loves both teams with all their hearts. However, one team is in the middle of an epic playoff series, while the other is playing near-meaningless games in October.

What the diehard Cardinal fan has been missing, is excellent hockey from his favorite team. The Blues are defying all the odds of having a Stanley Cup hangover by earning at least a point in each game so far this season.

The only loss of the season came on opening night against the Washington Capitals. Even with the overtime dagger by Jakub Vrana last Thursday, the Blues played a good enough game to take away a point from a Stanley Cup contender.

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Since that time, the Blues have defeated the Dallas Stars and Toronto Maple Leafs in regulation. St. Louis has been near flawless through this juggernaut of a schedule to begin the season and could reap the benefits of a great start later in the season.

The ability to take points away from three teams who I could easily see playing deep into the summer next season is an accomplishment on its own.

The Blues have picked up right where they left off, and after the start the team had last season, it’s a welcome sight to any Blues fan to see their team not backing away from a challenge.

The schedule gets much easier for the St. Louis Blues over the next week. After their win against the Leafs on Tuesday, St. Louis will remain on the road to face the Ottawa Senators, Montreal Canadiens and New York Islanders.

The Islanders should be a great test for the Blues early on in the season, though it may be more of a measuring stick for the Islanders after a great season last year.

The games against Ottawa and Montreal might be a great opportunity to get Jake Allen his first start of the season. Allen played significantly better in the second half of the 2018-19 season, and that great play was magnified on the road.

Having your backup goalie wait three weeks to get his first action of the year doesn’t seem like the best course of action. If you’re in the party that wants to wait until the Blues’ first back-to-back, that doesn’t happen until November 1 and 2.

Even if we get the Allen of the first half of last season, the offense seems in good enough form to give him some tremendous offensive support.

Sammy Blais has picked up right where he left off in training camp and has been nothing short of sensational to start his season. He has netted points in all three games for the Blues this season, tallying two goals and two assists.

His line with Ryan O’Reilly and David Perron has been the Blues’ best line so far this year. The team’s first line has shown signs of life, but they are getting the attention of the opponent’s top defensive pairings every night.

Nothing that I have seen from the Blues first three opponents on defense compares to what the Blues have done on the blue line. The addition of Justin Faulk seems to be one of the best trades of the offseason.

Faulk’s name hasn’t shown up on the scorecard yet, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t been productive. The newest Blue has played with Alex Pietrangelo and Vince Dunn to start the year, and both his offensive and defensive output has been incredible.

One thing that has been comforting to start the year is the play of Jordan Binnington. The young netminder has been standing on his head to start the year and has gotten rid of any doubt of a sophomore slump.

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Here’s to hoping the Cardinals play until Halloween, and I’m sure the city is supporting the Blues during the Cardinals playoff run just as much as they would if their season is over. One thing is for sure, this team is for real.

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