Krug, Blues Starting to Pick Up Steam One Month into Season
By Andy Knapp
The St. Louis Blues, along with defenseman Torey Krug, have started to be rather impressive in their last few games this season, particularly with their 13-2 combined wins vs both an Eastern and Western Conference power in the Tampa Bay Lightning and Colorado Avalanche. The biggest question to that is, can they keep the momentum going and turn it into a potential playoff run further down the line?
The Blues are 6-4-0 in their last 10 games, heading into a west-coast road trip, and 4th in the always hotly contested Central Division, closely trailing Winnipeg and Colorado amazingly enough by a single point. With one more win and a loss for those other two rivals, and of course a Dallas L, St. Louis could be knocking on the top floor door for 1st in the division just a month into this season, already an impressive run.
Not to mention, they currently possess a 3-game win streak. Honestly, that’s my bare minimum for what constitutes a “win streak,” but that’s beside the point. At an overall record of 8-5-1, which coincidentally is the exact same as Winnipeg, the Blues kick off a California road trip for their next 3 games, first visiting the sloppy San Jose Sharks on Thursday, a game that may be yet another ugly stain for the home team. That contest starts a 4 game road trip that concludes in Tempe when the Blues face the Coyotes, the first victim of their current 3 game win streak, on November 22.
One key player who’s made some solid contributions to these two recent Blues shutout wins is the Blues’ veteran defenseman, himself, Krug. He picked up 2 assists in the Blues’ win over the Lightning, marking the 4th straight game in a row that he had at least a point or two.
Since St. Louis’ 5th win in their last 6, they’ve averaged 4.5 goals per game (third in the league in that span) on 32.7 shots per game (seventh in the NHL).
Next. Blues playoff hopes aren't crazy. dark
With offensive numbers like these, one could argue the Blues are already well on their way to conjuring up another playoff run. Sure, it may seem too early, and I could be jumping to conclusions, but for right now, if they keep playing this well, great things could happen!