St. Louis Blues Won’t Be Helped By Colorado Avalanche Schedule
By Todd Panula
The St. Louis Blues will be forced to win their division based on their own merits. Their closest rival will not help out with having to play any hard games.
The St. Louis Blues might not have the hardest schedule in the world left in their final 15 games of the season. At least it is a mixture that requires some thought as to who might win.
The Blues still have remaining games against top teams like Boston, Philadelphia, Washington and Colorado. They also have games against Carolina and Florida, both of whom are in the midst of a playoff chase.
You do have your lower tier teams like San Jose, Anaheim and Ottawa. However, it is still a mix and nothing is bunched up too much to where they can take their foot off the gas.
In the end, that might be a good thing. Their closest rival in the standings, the Colorado Avalanche, have one of the easier remaining schedules you are going to see. So, the Blues will be forced to win as many as possible since the Avs still have games in hand and a bunch of chumps to beat.
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Colorado has 17 games left in their season as of March 3. It is not exactly a murderer’s row of opponents.
They have two games left against Vancouver, who is in a playoff race, but they just don’t seem that fearsome. The same can be said of Nashville and Winnipeg.
Either of those teams are capable of winning a game, but can they really contain the Colorado offensive machine? The Avs have three games left against those two teams – two against the Predators and just the one with the Jets. There’s a game against the Minnesota Wild mixed in there too. That’s a real tough one. The New York Rangers and Montreal Canadiens were thrown in there just for some form of variety.
Other than that, their schedule is basically all Pacific Division teams. No offense, but while 60% of their division is in the playoff hunt, that is more about the mediocrity of the teams not in the top three in either division.
The Avs play the Sharks twice. They’re not mathematically out, but they’re done. The same can be said for the Anaheim Ducks
They play the Kings once. They’re in last place in the Western Conference.
Colorado plays Arizona. The Avs have finished 2-1 against the Coyotes the last two seasons and they already lost their one game this season.
On paper, the only real tough games left are against Vegas and Edmonton. There is only one left against each one.
None of this is to say the Avalanche might not overlook a team or two. Maybe they just get cold and hit a rough patch, dropping a game or two.
Still, looking at that schedule, it is hard not to think the Blues almost have to win out to stay in first place. It would be a lot more comforting to be a point up or three points up, or whatever, if both teams had played the same amount of games, but those two games in hand are killers. Blues fans have to be wondering when these two extra games are going to be played.
The other worrying thing about the Avs is they are doing what the Blues have done. They’ve been beset by injuries, but it has not hampered them at all.
Their backup goaltender, who has rotated as a starter anyway, has stepped up and not missed a beat due to an injury to Philipp Grubauer.
Next. Blues must be careful of late season roster change. dark
Ultimately, the Blues can do nothing but worry about themselves. If they do that, there is nothing to worry about.
Still, it would be nice if some other teams around the NHL could help out St. Louis a little. C’mon San Jose, win a game or two for once.