The St. Louis Blues are a team on a mission, and nobody will argue that point. They’re 7-2-1 over their last 10 contests, with a three-game winning streak going on following what was yet another convincing win.
If the Blues keep this play up as a team, they will outlast every challenger that stands in their way or those they are neck-and-neck with in the standings. The Vancouver Canucks, Calgary Flames, and Utah Hockey Club won’t keep pace, and it’ll mean this short-lived postseason drought will end come late April.
But, the Blues as a team have been outstanding, with so many players stepping up and playing their best hockey. Yesterday, I talked about Alexey Toropchenko, whose recent play has been off the charts, considering his position as a lower-liner. But Toropchenko still isn’t that type who can give you output every single time he takes the ice.
One player has fueled the St. Louis Blues throughout their three-game win streak
In what has been this team’s best surge of the season, every Blues player receives credit for their recent uptick. But perhaps nobody deserves credit more than Jordan Kyrou, a player I’ve never been sold on despite his solid-to-impressive numbers throughout his career in Arch City.
Kyrou still looks like an underachiever overall, with just 58 points and 29 goals in 69 contests, and he’s still prone to playing elite-level hockey every handful of games. Luckily for the Blues, that most recent handful has come as the ‘down the stretch’ period raises in intensity level.
In his last three contests, Kyrou has eight points, five goals, and a plus-6. In that span, he’s also recorded a hat trick, so if anyone’s going to help elevate the Blues at the moment, it’s No. 25. But still, there’s always that lingering feeling that Kyrou could be handing us fools gold, considering how he likes reverting to mediocrity following such stretches.
Jordan Kyrou cannot afford to embark on a cold streak with the playoffs on the line
While I’m confident that this Blues team won’t falter even if Kyrou reverts to his up-and-down play, we don’t need to take any chances. As it stands, the Blues are still behind the Vancouver Canucks for that second wild-card spot via a game-in-hand tiebreaker, and even if they passed Vancouver, nothing needs to be left on the table and no stone can be left unturned.
That means elevated play from potential game-changers like Kyrou, who if could just string together some consistency game in and game out, can hit something close to superstar status. The upside is that he’s well into the prime of what’s become a successful career, but he’s consistently played like a player with a limited ceiling.
Yet when you see Kyrou put up such hot numbers in short stretches, that alone confirms he’s got way more to offer. And if he keeps playing at something close to this elite level he’s shown over the past three contests, expect more statement wins from the Blues.