Playoffs are still a longshot for St. Louis, unless they can rise to the game of games Monday, against team they're chasing: the defending Stanley Cup champs
ST. LOUIS -- Nearly three weeks ago in this space, I had written the St. Louis Blues off.
They had just blew a 2-0 lead against the New York Islanders and had one game remaining until the NHL Trade Deadline and gone through a stretch where the Blues could have increased a Western Conference wild card lead to six points starting Feb. 17 against the Nashville Predators.
But instead, they sputtered off just three wins in 11 games (3-7-1) and dropped out of the race, fell in with a pack of wolves also looking to make inroads.
I called it a flawed roster that needed to be fixed. It wasn't their fault. "It is what it is," I said at the time. And in the words of Jim Mora, "Playoffs! Don't talk about playoffs! You kidding me? Playoffs. I just hope we can win a game." That's sort of how I felt about the Blues then. It was inevitable that there would be no playoffs for a second straight season.
After that dreadful performance on March 9 against the New York Rangers, a 4-0 loss, it would have been easy for Tony "Duke" Evers, Apollo Creed's trainer in Rocky 4, to be there with the team after that game and yelling, "throw the damn towel!"
The Blues were eight points out of the second wild card, and there were four teams for them to leapfrog to get into the wild card. With 18 games remaining, it wasn't impossible but it was most certainly daunting.
Well, they haven't thrown in "the damn towel." In fact, in the two weeks since, the "flawed" Blues, as I called them, have reeled off six wins in seven games, brushed aside the Calgary Flames, the Seattle Kraken, and moved past the Minnesota Wild, who they've beaten three times in March, including 5-4 in overtime on Saturday, with one obstacle in sight: the Vegas Golden Knights. The defending champion Vegas Golden Knights, who come calling on Enterprise Center Monday at 7 p.m. holding that second wild card.
The deficit is four points. A Blues regulation win will put them, for the third time since Thursday, two points behind Vegas, positioning themselves like a police officer ready to turn the sirens on to begin the chase. Even winning a three-point game pulls them closer and makes things interesting.
Interim coach Drew Bannister has been calling their games playoff games for weeks now, so the Blues (38-30-3), who have already surpassed last year's 37-win total, have been locked in playoff mode now for at least a few weeks.
Speaking of Bannister, I need to give him some credit here for not just holding the ship afloat with his coaching staff but making this group relevant. I didn't give him much of a chance, if at all, when he replaced Craig Berube on Dec. 14, but he definitely deserves it.
Monday's game will most certainly have a playoff feel to it. The building should be vibrant.
It's a chance for the Blues to continue to prove all the doubters, including myself, wrong. I will be the first to admit I'm surprised they're still in this race. I still don't think this roster, even if they manage to get in, is equipped enough to make any kind of a playoff run, but they do have a goalie (Jordan Binnington) that can steal games, so if they get in, it wouldn't be wise to doubt that guy. But what is encouraging here more than anything is that there are players going through this grind for the first time that need to feel it firsthand what this is all about.
Brayden Schenn knows it. Oskar Sundqvist understands it. Colton Parayko has felt it. Nick Leddy and Brandon Saad have been through it with the Chicago Blackhawks. Torey Krug has been through it. Justin Faulk has been part of it.
Imagine what this must feel like for Jake Neighbours, who is tied for the team lead with 25 goals, to experience this adrenaline rush for the first time; how about Alexey Toropchenko, who has been through it before two years ago but not from this vantage point of pushing to get in and gaining this valuable experience; or how about Scott Perunovich, Zack Bolduc, Matthew Kessel, Joel Hofer, even guys that aren't playing regularly like Tyler Tucker, Nikita Alexandrov and Zach Dean to get to learn in this experience? It can only go a long way for these guys moving forward when they do improve and continue their growth. Robert Thomas was these guys in 2019.
Yes, goaltending has been a large factor here with Binnington and Joel Jofer keeping them in this race, having a save percentage of .933 when they're seeing an average of 34 shots per game, second most the past seven games, but in these past seven games, five of them (Jordan Kyrou, Pavel Buchnevich, Neighbours, Saad and Faulk) each are averaging a point per game or better, and all but three are even or better in plus-minus.
As a team, their 12 points the past seven games is tied with the Colorado Avalanche and New York Rangers for second behind the Carolina Hurricanes, who have played nine games. They're fifth in goals scored (27) and eighth in goals against (16); eighth in power play percentage (26.3 percent) and eighth in penalty kill (85.7 percent).
I do have to say, the Blues are most certainly trying to will this to the finish line, and that's a positive no matter if they make it or not. Last year, as a fan, how much fun was this that at this point in the season, they were just playing the string out? Not a lot. It's not something as a fan you're used to.
Their only loss in the past two weeks was against the Avalanche, 4-3, and they even played well in that game; it was nothing to scoff at. The Avalanche are a juggernaut right now, but coming out of that game, it wasn't a sense that the Blues just got obliterated like some of their losses earlier in the season where it it looked like they weren't even competing.
Even if the Blues slip up and lose Monday, it's OK. They weren't supposed to compete for anything purposeful, and when I say that, I mean for the Stanley Cup. But for the first time, I am seeing the grassroots being sprouted for a foundation to success again.
I stand by my stance that for the organization to take that next step back to relevancy, the roster needs some overhauling. I still think there are guys playing higher in the lineup than they should be, but this can be fixed.
Some of these guys won't be back next season, and that's fine. What Doug Armstrong and Co. must do is make the correct, adequate replacements for those players moving forward, because along with the young skaters that are already here working their tails off, there will be more talent looming in the not-too-distant future.
But I have to give credit where credit is due to this bunch for not staying down for the count every time they got smacked to the ice. It would have been easier that way, but as they've exhibited recently, the Blues don't want easy, and that's the way it should be.
Win or lose, they will come ready to play Monday. The compete is there, and as a fan, that's all you can ask for, even if the result isn't what you want. And that deserves to be recognized.
