The St. Louis Blues continued their stretch toward a potential playoff berth with a tough game against the Colorado Avalanche. If nothing else, this game would serve as a good litmus test to see how the Blues measure up against a contender.
Initially, it didn't look that great. The Avalanche got some early chances, and Jordan Binnington needed to be sharp to keep the game scoreless in the early going.
That allowed the Blues to become more comfortable and settled. After that, the teams seemed to battle back and forth in the shot totals.
Thanks to a delay in the game call, the Blues got a power play, and they took advantage. St. Louis got it to Robert Thomas, who worked out from the corner. After holding a moment, he found the seam to the right circle for a Zach Bolduc one-timer, and it was 1-0.
Unfortunately, the lead only lasted a little over a minute. Colorado crashed deep in the zone, and the Blues were caught reacting to a bouncing puck. The bounces favored the home team, as the puck slipped out of the pack to a wide-open Nathan MacKinnon on the left side of the net, who slotted it past a diving Binnington to tie the game.
The second period was slightly odd. There was a lot of back and forth, but not much regarding actual chances.
Colorado had some good zone time, but the Blues clogged up the middle. The Avs best look was probably a post shot with about five minutes left.
St. Louis did take a late penalty, but the penalty kill did its job, even if they did allow three shots. Conversely, the Blues only had four shots, which won't get you much. However, they only allowed six, so the game remained tied going into the third.
The Blues offense was slightly better in the third, though still not great. They had an early power play and didn't accomplish much. Once that elapsed, they almost immediately went back on the power play. This time, they got some decent zone time initially, but still had zero shots.
However, the Blues got it done in the first shift back at even strength. After a fanned shot on the circle, the Blues forecheck kept things in the zone. After a quick cycle, Ryan Suter took the shot and then Pavel Buchnevich slapped the rebound just under the goaltender to make it 2-1 with about 11 left.
The goal seemed to wake the Blues up a bit. On the very next shift, they almost slipped one in on the left side and then forced a good save on their third power play of the period.
The final two or three minutes were just a waiting game. It was nail-biting time since the Blues couldn't get the puck out.
Buchnevich came within a foot of hitting the empty net, which led to an icing that trapped a tired line on the ice. The Blues never got the chance, but they blocked a shot and some passes, and Binnington did the rest.
Somehow, the Blues hung on for a 2-1 win, giving them nine in a row.
Pro: Thomas
I'll be the first to admit there were many times early in the season when I doubted Robert Thomas as a legitimate top-line center. I did not doubt his talent, but he didn't seem to have "it".
He's slapping us all in the face with that opinion now. Thomas is coming up big for his team, and there's little doubt it will play into their turnaround.
Thomas has points in five straight games. He has points in nine of his last 10 games. The last time he failed to score in consecutive games was against Anaheim and Los Angeles. Before those games, he had an 11-game point streak.
These aren't just throw-away points either. He assisted on both goals against the Avalanche, giving him helpers on the first goal of the game and the game winner.
The assist for the power play goal was just quality, to outwait the opponent and then find his man through a small window. He's earning his money.
Con: Power play
As usual, statistically, 1-4 isn't that bad. If you did that every game, you would be above league average.
However, outside of the goal, the power play was not great. They had a little zone time if/when they would win a faceoff, but that's about it.
Playing into that thread, they could rarely re-establish themselves if the Blues did not win the faceoff. Once Colorado cleared it, they either didn't let the Blues back in or got the puck out shortly after.
Pro: Binnington
In today's NHL, 29 shots don't seem like a lot. We've seen teams put up 40 and 50 shots—not regularly, but it happens.
However, it was the timing of the stops that made Binner noticeable in this game. He was solid in his positioning, but showcased his tenacity and athleticism to make the scrambles.
Sometimes he didn't even make a save on some of those plays late in the game, but he had gotten into position, which forced the shots to be off target. Binnington is already in the head of some of the Colorado players after he almost single-handedly stole that series when Kadri ran him over a few years back.
Pro: Defense
Defense is an odd concept and somewhat an eye of the beholder type of thing. On the one hand, it's hard to say the Blues played great defense when they couldn't clear the puck at times, but that also plays into why the defense was good - they had to be.
St. Louis blocked 22 shots, meaning the Avs could have almost doubled their shot total. That's sacrificing team hockey.
St. Louis had 30 hits in the game. You're taking the opponent out of their comfort zone when you're getting physical.
Last, but not least, they held the Avs to 29 shots, as mentioned. St. Louis has only allowed 30-plus shots against once in their last 20 games. The last time it happened back-to-back was those early February lossed to Edmonton and Florida.
Overview:
Keeping this team and this streak in perspective is getting harder and harder. St. Louis has won nine in a row and has points in 11 of their last 12.
If you don't have that weird hiccup in Pittsburgh, where the Blues outplayed them but lost, who knows? The Blues have 15 wins in 19 games since the 4 Nations Faceoff and still scored points in two of those losses.
At this point, we've reached a spot where the only question now is whether this is sustainable or will they actually run out of steam? We've seen both.
Sometimes teams put it all into making the playoffs and then crash. Other times, they keep it going like the Los Angeles Kings did when they won the Cup as an eighth seed.
As far as this game went, it wasn't pretty or nice, but it was a playoff-style win. It didn't have that same playoff bite, but it was a gut it out and hold on kind of win.
That's how you win this late in the season. We all love the dangles and the pretty plays and the highlights, but these are the kind of games you have to find ways to win if you're to be a playoff team or even possibly make it a couple rounds in.
The right people are stepping up. Whether it's Hofer or Binnington, they're getting good goaltending.
Buchnevich missed several games but came right back and scored. Thomas is looking like a top center. Bolduc is pushing hard for 20 this season.
I try to temper my excitement because that team that did everything wrong early in the year is still in there. Hopefully, it's buried deep enough that we don't see it again.