The St. Louis Blues have won two games in a row, but those games don’t measure up to the importance of tonight. It’s the Blues against the Dallas Stars for first place in the division.
The St. Louis Blues have not played a ton of important games in recent weeks. Mostly, it has been about them righting their own ship or figuring out this or that.
However, due to their recent slide, they allowed other teams in the division to creep back into the race. Thus, tonight’s game in Dallas against the Stars has more importance than just a regular division rivalry game.
Suddenly, the Blues top spot in the Central division is at stake. While the Blues would technically be tied on points with the Stars, should they lose, the Stars would gain an important advantage in the race and also set the Blues back a bit despite their recent winning ways.
The Blues only have themselves to blame for this. Of course, you cannot plan for injuries, but even before such events, the team was not playing at peak capacity and let complacency and bad habits creep in.
However, St. Louis has always had a way of playing up and down to their opponent. So, with much on the line tonight, even for a regular February game, we should see the blue and yellow playing up to snuff.
How they stack up
The Blues are in first place, but only just. They enter tonight’s game with 78 points and a record of 34-17-10.
Dallas comes in just two points back. They are 35-19-6 with 76 points.
However, the more important point is games in hand. The Stars have a game in hand on the Blues – the Colorado Avalanche have two games in hand – which makes winning tonight even more important.
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If the Blues lose, they would technically stay in first (according to most standings) by way of having fewer regular season losses. But, once Dallas plays their makeup game, if the Stars and Blues remained tied on points the Stars would move past the Blues.
Dallas has more losses as of now, but they have more wins and more ROW’s. The Blues picked up too many points in overtime losses, which would hold them back in a tie scenario.
That will likely all shake out by the end of the season. Nevertheless, it is important to worry about now.
With a win, the Blues would put themselves four points up on Dallas and as many as six points up on Colorado, depending on the outcome of their game with Anaheim tonight. With both of those teams having games they can make up points with, the Blues need to reestablish a gap.
The Blues are trying to win the regular season series tonight. They are currently 2-0-1 against the Stars and have already won at American Airlines Center, 3-1 back in November.
The lone blight came with a 3-2 OT loss at home just a couple weeks ago.
Dallas has a six-game point streak and is 7-1-2 in their last 10. Oddly enough, two of their three losses came to teams outside of the playoff picture
Not that it really matters, but 2016-17 was the last time the Blues won the regular season battle against the Stars outright.
Projected lineup
The Blues did not have a morning skate due to playing last night and getting into Dallas rather late. That is generally how they figure out projected lineups.
Given the team success over the last few games, I highly doubt anything would change. Marco Scandella had a solid first game with the Blues and paired well with Colton Parayko. He’s really going right into the fire with a first game at home and then a second game against a rival.
The only change I would expect is to see Jake Allen in net. If Craig Berube really wanted to he could let Jordan Binnington ride his shutout streak, but that would not be smart. They need to not tax Binnington’s legs with so many games down the stretch and Jake needs the work.
Additionally, Jake has a good save percentage in his career on the road. He also plays well against Dallas with a 9-5 record and a .921 career save percentage against the Stars.
Prediction
Just when you think you’re getting better at these things, you realize that’s a bunch of garbage. I’ve been right in predicting Blues wins lately, and came close on the score against New Jersey, but not correct on goal totals overall.
With that in mind, I think the Blues come out strong tonight. That is not to say they come out of the gate flying, but that they will play a strong game overall.
You do have the fatigue issue as it took a lot of energy to squeak by Arizona and the Stars had the day off having played the Coyotes the night prior. However, the Blues are above .500 when playing the second game of a back-to-back and they will know this game has some extra spice.
With all that in mind, the Blues have to treat this like a playoff game. I understand it’s February and there’s plenty of time to do this or that or whatever.
However, you need to at least partially snuff out the flame the Stars have kindled. Dallas is a shoe-in for the playoffs, unless something really crazy happens, but you need to let them know they will have to empty the tank to grab the top spot and make them wonder if it’s worth it.
I expect another tight game, as most of them have been with Dallas this year. Blues sneak by 2-1.