The St. Louis Blues don’t control their own destiny right now, sitting two points outside a wild card spot before their game on Saturday evening against the Minnesota Wild. If they want to gain control of their destiny, the Blues need to win a few more games than the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks, and then keep winning.
With 16 games left in the regular season prior to Saturday evening, that task is growing more insurmountable by the day. Or is it? Luckily for the Blues and their fans, they have something going for them, and it comes in the form of strength of schedule.
It’s one reason why Tyler Yaeremchuk of Daily Faceoff has high hopes for the Blues. While Frank Seravalli is more pessimistic about the team’s outlook, Yaremchuk pointed to the Blues strength of schedule as something they can take advantage of.
St. Louis Blues must win games they’re supposed to win now more than ever
With an easier schedule, the Blues have two options: They can be a team that takes advantage of those they’re supposed to beat, or they can play down to their competition. The latter will guarantee a one-way ticket to yet another 82-game schedule, considering just how easy the Blues have it with their remaining games in March and April.
How easy? Yaremchuk let us know, saying, “In terms of the playoff race, I found it interesting [in strength of schedule]. St. Louis has the easiest schedule in the entire NHL from here till the end of the season.”
Did you read that correctly? Yeah, so at this point, there’s no excuse for the Blues to miss out on the playoffs unless the teams ahead of them keep up their current pace. But even if such an event arises, at the absolute least, we can say that the Blues were winning games toward the end of the year, and beating teams they’re supposed to beat at this point.
Which opponents make up the Blues schedule in March and April?
I won’t go through all the teams, but I want to list those the Blues should handle. Do the math, and that’s how many two-point matchups your team should get. Or at least close to, as everyone has a bad game. But, you get the point. Anyway, for the next month, those weaker teams the Blues have coming up are the:
- Anaheim Ducks
- Nashville Predators
- Chicago Blackhawks
- Nashville Predators (2)
- Montreal Canadiens
- Nashville Predators (3)
- Detroit Red Wings
- Pittsburgh Penguins
- Seattle Kraken
- Utah Hockey Club
That’s 10 of their 16 remaining games coming up against teams with low points totals. Again, the Blues won’t beat all of them, but if they took seven of those 10, they’re looking at 14 points, which bumps them up to 83 overall (I’m speaking points in terms of prior to their matchup with Minnesota).
Get a couple of overtime losses, and now, they’re up to 85 points. And really, just three wins against stronger opponents, a few of whom they’ll upset, and they’ll have 91 points. In such a scenario, if Calgary and Vancouver keep producing points at their same pace, it’ll put them between 89 and 90 points, paving the way for the Blues to sneak into the playoffs.
Yep, this might sound speculative, but what I’m saying is, the Blues have a very, very good opportunity here. But then again, they haven’t been accepting gifts lately.