Surging St. Louis Blues Win 8th Straight

After a 4-3 loss to the New York Islanders on January 5th, the St. Louis Blues had the blues. St. Louis was 16-19-4, and had hovered under the .500 level for almost the entire season, and appeared headed for another disappointing season without making the playoffs. The Blues didn’t make it to the post season last year after making it the previous six. But even when they made it, they disappointed their fans. St. Louis won the NHL Central Division in 2014-15 only to lose in the Stanley Cup 1st round to Minnesota. The next year they made it all the way to the Western Conference Finals before bowing out to the San Jose Sharks. The Blues seemed to be poised for the next level, but then lost to Nashville in the 2nd round of the playoffs in 2016-17, before missing out completely in 2017-18.

But then, things started coming together after that Islanders’ loss. Veteran goalie Jake Allen, who stopped just 10 of 14 shots against New York, was supplanted as the #1 goalie by rookie Jordan Binnington. All he did in his first NHL start was stop all 25 shots in the Blues 3-0 shutout victory over the Flyers in Philadelphia on January 7th. That win over the Flyers was the start of a 13-3-1 run by St. Louis, which includes a current eight game winning streak. Win number eight was another Binnington shutout, this one a 4-0 blanking of the Coyotes in Arizona on February 14th.

Binnington’s statistics are impressive to say the least. He’s 11-1-1 with a 1.69 GAA and a .931 save percentage and three shutouts. On the offensive side of things, perennial stalwart Vladimir Tarasenko, who scored two goals in that Arizona win, is having a typical Tarasenko year, with 46 points (24 goals, 22 assists). But leading the team in scoring at this point is Ryan O’Reilly with 57 points (21 goals, 36 assists, plus a nifty +/- of 23). The Blues made a big trade with Buffalo in the off season, sending three players and two draft picks to the Sabres in exchange for O’Reilly, who is making a big impact in his first year in St. Louis.

After beating Arizona, the Blues record stood at 29-22-5 (63 points), third in the Central Division which would put them in the playoffs. They are in action again on February 16th at Colorado.