If the last couple of weeks are any indication of the near future, the St. Louis Blues are playing like a team laser-focused on being around for the Stanley Cup playoffs well into the upcoming spring. The Blues are playing like a team on a singular mission to hoist Lord Stanley's silver trophy come the middle of June and with a 7-2-1 run in the last ten games, St. Louis is making their playoff claim well-known throughout the Western Conference. More importantly, multi-goals wins consecutively against both the Minnesota Wild and the Anaheim Ducks vividly portray the Blues working as a coherent unit with the offensive score sheets bursting at the seams with statistics from multiple players each night.
Jordan Kyrou is making his playoff desires well-known throughout the Central Division.
There's an old saying in sports that the best defense is a good offense and lately winger Jordan Kyrou has been proving that this mantra is true. Leading the Blues with 27 goals and 29 assists, Kyrou has seen his hockey stick catch on fire lately with a hat trick against the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night and three assists at home on Sunday night versus the Anaheim Ducks. For Kyrou, multi-point games at this critical time of the regular season translate into a winning streak as the Blues continue to claim a potential wild card playoff stake in the Western Conference, and their wins this past weekend continue to move their compass needle in the right direction.
Brayden Schenn continues to be the anchor for the Blues throughout this season.
If there was ever a doubt as to why Brayden Schenn wears the captain's "C" on his team sweater, the Sunday night game against the Anaheim Ducks silenced any naysayers. Yes, there was an awful lot of trade talk and rumors about Schenn's future with this franchise leading up to the March 7th NHL trade deadline but Schenn's still the "C" in St. Louis and will continue to be the heart and soul of the Blues as they make their playoff push. Schenn was honored for his 1,000th NHL game on Sunday night and characteristically scored the game's first goal and stood up for teammate Jordan Kyrou by participating in a bit of on-ice UFC fighting with the Ducks' Jacob Trouba in the process. Brayden Schenn's remaining in St. Louis will not only pay immediate dividends at the end of this regular season but should also provide veteran leadership and inspiration through a Stanley Cup playoff run come April.
The Blues are fighting for the last wildcard spot in the Western Conference.
If the regular season ended today, the St. Louis Blues are in a statistical dead heat with the Vancouver Canucks and just ahead of both the Calgary Flames and the Utah Hockey Club for the last wildcard spot in the Western Conference. The Minnesota Wild have a six-point lead over the other franchises and look to secure their playoff hopes barring any last-minute regular season collapse. The Canucks and the Blues are tied with 73 total points but the Canucks have played one less game (68 games played versus 67 for Vancouver) "The proof is in the pudding" with the Blues winning both games this weekend while the Canucks dropped a critical game against Utah. As things stand right now, the final Western Conference wildcard spot is the hot ticket in the NHL and as the weather warms up with the arrival of spring, so too does the competition for the Blues to be able to hoist Lord Stanley's cup this June.