American holiday usually good measuring sick whether NHL teams are for real, pretenders
ST. LOUIS -- The St. Louis Blues embarked on a three-game trip through New York that could tell an awful lot about what to expect, where they need to try and build some kind of momentum heading into the Thanksgiving holiday.
That particular marker more times than not -- the Stanley Cup champion Blues of 2018-19 would like a word, please -- often tells whether teams are for real, or if they're pretenders.
As they sit on Friday prior to facing the New York Islanders (7-8-5) on Saturday, the New York Rangers (12-5-1) on Monday and New Jersey Devils (13-7-2) on Wednesday, the Blues (9-11-1) are at 22 points, three points out of a wild card and five points out of third place in the Central Division.
They haven't had a winning streak greater than two games, which they've done three times, and coming off a 3-2 shootout win against the San Jose Sharks on Thursday, stringing together some wins leading into next Thursday could paint quite the picture.
"This is an important road trip for us to grab some points against good teams," Blues captain Brayden Schenn said. "We know they're not going to be easy nights. The stats are the stats from previous years, right? We all know. We've got to be in and around it to have a chance. Obviously there's some times like ... (2018-19 was brought up) yeah, but the stats are pretty accurate for the most part.
"We need a good road trip, we need to grab some points here and we need to climb back in it."
Just basing off the past couple seasons, it's gone like this for the Blues at Thanksgiving:
* 2023 -- First wild card at 10-7-1, 21 points, finished 43-33-6, six points behind Vegas for the final wild card.
* 2022 -- Second in the Central Division at 10-7-2, 22 points, finished 37-38-7, 14 points out of the final wild card.
* 2021 -- Second in the Central at 10-7-2, 22 points, finished 49-22-11, third in the Central.
* 2020 -- Season started in January due to COVID-19.
* 2019 -- First in the Central at 15-5-6, 36 points, finished 42-19-10, first in the Western Conference.
* 2018 -- Fourteenth of 15 in conference at 7-10-3, 17 points, finished 45-28-9, third in the Central.
Bottom line is Blues usually are in the right position. Whether they finish out well or not has been the exception. In the past two seasons, they've been in the right position, only to fall out. The year they won it all, well is quite the exception to the rule.
"Everyone knows (this trip) is important," Blues defenseman Colton Parayko said. "It's a good three games, kind of in one spot. A good opportunity for us to just be together, build, build our game for sure. It was good to get two points and build off of that. We've played really well when we've played together. We need to have a good trip and put ourselves in a good spot."
It wasn't always pretty by any stretch on Thursday, but a win is a win. The Blues had to have one, they got one, and they have to find some traction off it.
"The biggest thing is two points is two points," Parayko said. "Obviously you want to win as much as you can for sure, but for 82 games, it's tough to have a perfect game or the right game every time obviously. As many points as you can put in the bank is the biggest thing. But at the end of the day, we do want to put our best game forward as much as possible and get two points because sometimes you do put your best game forward and you don't get the two points when you deserve it. Bounces can go one way or the other. The goal is to put ourselves a chance every night to get the two points and give ourselves the best game possible."
Even with the win, Schenn said, "We still feel we can play a whole lot better than we are."
They'll go for their fourth stretch of two straight wins on Saturday.
