St. Louis Blues head coach Jim Montgomery has done a lot for this team, and as I write this, they have 73 points and have a legitimate chance of snagging a playoff berth. Montgomery has been a huge part of the equation, and since his arrival, St. Louis is an incredible 24-16-6 (54 points).
That’s 46 games total, an average of 1.17 points per game, and 96 points across an 82-game average. Yeah, I’d say Montgomery has more than proven he was worth making the bold move for earlier in the season.
The players have bought into Montgomery’s system, and his presence has helped more than a few weak areas on the team reach their greater potential. St. Louis is scoring far more often, ranking 17th in the league now in goals scored and 198 total. Defensively, they’re an average 18th in the league with 201 goals allowed, which is better than what we’ve been seeing.
Jim Montgomery’s presence has turned the St. Louis Blues back into contenders
While Montgomery receives a lot of credit for the Blues turnaround, he’s also been crediting one previously lackluster area to the Blues game. And that would be the power play, which is now converting 21.43 percent of the time, and just 0.17 percentage points lower from the NHL average of 21.60.
This is still considered slightly below average from a cumulative view, but it doesn’t highlight the improvement. Yet, Montgomery was quick to point out just how much better the Blues have been on the man advantage, saying in Lou Korac’s post-game piece at NHL.com, “Our players are executing at a high level and I think Steve Ott’s done a tremendous job. It’s been like this for a while, like since the outdoor game. If you look at what our power play has done since then, I bet you it’s top four in the League.”
It’s been a 30-game span since the Winter Classic and the Blues power play is 20 for 67, good for a 29.8 conversion percentage. In all other situations, the Blues have scored 82 times in those 30 games, so I would say the man advantage has been a difference-maker.
If the Blues keep this up they could be playoff bound…
The key word here is ‘could,’ because there are other factors at play here. Yeah, the Blues have an easier schedule coming up than anyone else, and that gives them an advantage on paper. But we’ve also seen an inconsistent team for most of the season and if they’re looking to snag a spot in the back half of April, the Blues cannot afford to become a streaky team.
And they don’t need to look far for proof of what happens when just a few games’ worth of slip-ups occur. A former rival, the Detroit Red Wings, is just coming off their lowest of lows after reaching the highest of highs, highlighted with a couple of seven-game winning streaks.
Since the Blues are prone to hot and cold streaks themselves, one concern here is if they revert to that bland team that seemingly can’t score half of the time. Instead, they must show that this 9-2-2 run they’ve been on isn’t just a few games gone right, but one that shows permanent growth as far as this season is concerned.