The St. Louis Blues just played in their biggest game of the 2025-26 season and won in dominating fashion. With the Carolina Hurricanes in town, they shut them out, 3-0.
There are a lot of things to take away from this win, but these three things proved some new details about this Blues team. What were they, and what kind of impact does this game have on the rest of the season?
No quit
The Blues have been up and down all season, but these last three games have been the lowest of lows. They were smoked by the Chicago Blackhawks, played better but still lost to Utah, and then regressed back to their usual selves against Vegas. Six big points were lost, and as the Blues are ahead of many of the teams in front of them in the wild card race, every single game counts.
But this win against Carolina proved that they are not quitting on this season. On a three-game losing streak, and then having the top-seeded team in the Metropolitan Division come into your house is an intimidating challenge. The entire roster played fantastically, and a 3-0 shutout win is a statement that maybe the Blues are not going to just pack it in and surrender the season.
True potential
After the Blues were eliminated from the playoffs last season with those last-minute goals from Winnipeg, the expectations and hopes were very high for this Blues team. The summer came and went with some new faces joining the fray to "improve" areas that were lacking last season. But, after 47 games, it could not be more of the opposite.
The Blues' 60-minute performance against Carolina was what many expected this team to be every night. Dalibor Dvorsky and Jimmy Snuggerud are giving a glimpse of the future dynasty, as well as Joel Hofer continuing to ascend to being the future starting goaltender. That game was the true potential of the Blues.
Committed to finding themselves
This team has proved that they are committed to finding their identity. At this point in the season, you can start to make assumption which teams are going to start to shut it down for the year and focus on potentially winning the Gavin McKenna sweepstakes with the 2026 NHL Draft. The Blues are not one of them, but they are also not a lock for the playoffs either.
They might be in no man's land right now, but that leaves them completely open to figuring themselves out. The Blues have some aging contracts that they can try to ship off at the Trade Deadline, and with that, continue to supplement the prospect pipeline. Eventually, depending on the outcome of the season, there will be some up-and-comers like Justin Carbonneau and Adam Jiricek making their NHL debuts with the Blues.
Or, this win could have instilled some confidence. The Hurricanes are a tough team to play against, and they handled them in a hard-fought game. The Blues are not out of the wild card picture, and these next couple of weeks prior to the Olympic break feature some of the teams ahead of them in the standings. Can they gain some ground?