3 players who must step up for the St. Louis Blues last stand to make the NHL Playoffs
The St. Louis Blues still have a slim chance to make the NHL Playoffs as the final two weeks of the 2023-24 season have arrived.
Alright, this is it for the St. Louis Blues. With just 84 points, they have just six more games to catch the Los Angeles Kings (91 points) for the second wild card spot, and that will require this group to play their absolute best hockey.
Some players have already gotten a head start on that and helped ignite this late-season surge, even if that surge was nonexistent last night. Now, they need everyone wearing a blue and gold uniform to step up if they’re to end this respectable late-season run with a spot in the NHL Playoffs. A few players, however, need to bring their A-Game and take it even higher.
One notable name is captain Brayden Schenn, who needs to keep leading the charge through this pivotal time of the year. Schenn is still a productive player in this league, and arguably the most respected voice in the locker room, and few will make a larger impact both on and off the ice for this hockey team.
Several St. Louis Blues players must step up in last-second run toward NHL Playoffs
Schenn doesn’t just have 15 years’ worth of games on his NHL resume; he was also there when the Blues won the Stanley Cup in 2019, and he knows exactly what it will take for this team to sneak its way into that final playoff spot. Luckily, he’s been setting a sensational example lately, one that included a two-goal performance in the Blues overtime win over the Edmonton Oilers.
But Schenn isn’t the only player who needs to keep playing more than just a solid game. There are a few others who have been outstanding contributors this season, but if the Blues plan on earning a playoff berth, this trio must rise above and play better hockey than they have at any other time of the year.
Pavel Buchnevich has got to find the back of the net more often
Pavel Buchnevich is still second on the Blues in points, but his goal-scoring has been nonexistent lately. Since March 2nd, Buchnevich has just two goals despite logging nine assists and 11 total points in that span.
Other Blues players have stepped up and picked up the slack, but imagine how much more of a scoring threat this team would be if Buchnevich was still that player who put up 24 goals in his first 57 contests. Adjust that number across 82 games, and Buchnevich was on pace to score between 34 and 35 goals.
Those two goals he scored between March 2nd and April 4th both came in the Blues win over the Calgary Flames. And to Buchnevich’s defense, he does have 10 points in the last nine games since he’s been logging quite a few helpers, so at the absolute least, he’s still finding ways to get others involved.
Buchnevich has no choice, however, but to keep playing at more than a point-per-game pace from now until Game No. 82. If he can start finding the back of the net again and keep putting linemates in position to score, the Blues will be much better off over the next two weeks.
Robert Thomas must play more like the team’s leading points producer
While Pavel Buchnevich is the Blues leading scorer alongside Jake Neighbours, Robert Thomas has been playing on another level throughout most of the season, with 75 points and 23 goals across the first 76 contests. But like Buchnevich, he’s had a tough time finding the net lately, with zero goals in his previous six games and just two in his past 11.
Also, like Buchnevich, both goals came in just one game, which occurred in a win over the Anaheim Ducks. However, unlike Buchnevich, Thomas has had just three assists in his previous 11 games and seven points (three goals and four assists) since March 2nd.
If there is anyone on this team who needs to step up and play their best game down the stretch, it’s the team’s leading points producer. From October 12th through February 28th, Thomas had an eye-popping 68 points and 20 goals, so once again, do the math. He was on pace for between 94 and 95 points when February 28th rolled around, and between 27 and 28 goals.
The upside is that Thomas doesn’t need to repeat that performance to help the Blues, but he needs to at least get close to the point-per-game threshold again. If he does that, and if those players who have recently stepped up keep playing their respective games, the Blues will be hard to beat.
Colton Parayko must bump up the intensity even more
Colton Parayko is the one player on this list who doesn’t necessarily need to bring an aspect of his game back up to par. He’s been a force all season on the blue line, and the towering defenseman’s physical play has resulted in 200-plus blocked shots this season and, once again, triple digits in the hits column.
But Parayko’s ability to continually disrupt, be it with a body check or stealing the puck, is something that he must turn up one more notch as the season winds down. Hey, 68 takeaways in his first 75 games are sensational, but get it up to one per game while getting a stick on the puck to disrupt opponents every time they enter the Blues zone.
Parayko has been a force defensively, and he’s also capable of pitching in a bit more in the offensive zone. We’ve seen him find the net 10 times, which ties a career-high. If he can keep throwing pucks at the net, there is a 100 percent chance you will see more life from the Blues offensively.
If Buchnevich, Thomas, and Parayko all bring a little more urgency over these last two weeks of the season, then the Blues chances of surpassing the Kings just grew tenfold, even if the latter need to lose quite a few games at this point.
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(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)