Blues to Miss 2023 Playoffs Following Bruins Shootout Loss

Well, it’s official. This season will end with no playoffs for the St. Louis Blues.

After yesterday’s 4-3 shootout loss at home to the President’s Trophy-winning Boston Bruins, the St. Louis Blues have been eliminated from playoff contention.

This marks their first no-postseason trip in the Craig Berube era. But, after the last 3 times they’ve made it under coach Craig only to never make it past the 2nd round, is it really that big of a deal?

The top 3 teams in each of the NHL’s divisions reach the postseason, and right now, the Blues are 12 points off of 4th place Winnipeg in 6th of 8th in the Central with just 5 games remaining in their 55th season. That is an insurmountable deficit.

Even if the Blues won those last 5 games, it would still only result in 10 total points, a game and a half below what would be needed for a postseason berth. Given St. Louis’ struggles this season, one would doubt that five wins in five games is something we would see happen.

Arguably the biggest struggle for the Blues other than the fact that seemingly every game was an up-and-down roller coaster, usually the latter, was keeping goaltender Jordan Binnington out of trouble with the league.

It’s worth noting that the Blues compiled 109 points in 2021-22, a far cry from the maximum amount they could get by winning their last 5 games this season to garner 87 points on the year. But again, that’s seeming very unlikely given the tumultuous ride the Blues have been on.

The last time St. Louis didn’t book a ticket to the playoffs was in Mike Yeo’s first and only full season at the helm in 2017-18. The Blues finished with a record of 44-32-6 and 5th in their division.

Funny enough, Yeo’s next ultimately final season in 2018-19 saw the Blues win their first and to date only Stanley Cup championship after Yeo was replaced by current HC Berube. Maybe we shouldn’t have gotten rid of him.

The Blues face the Flyers and Rangers at home on April 4 and 6, followed by a trip to division rivals Minnesota on April 8 and then back home to face another Central Division rival in Dallas for a home and away series on April 11 and 13. The former is the Blues’ final home game of their 2022-23 season. All eyes will then turn to the 2023 NHL Entry Draft and next, the 2023-24 NHL season.

See you then, Blues faithful.