St. Louis Blues, Good Start But Good Enough?
(Photo by Gerry Thomas/NHLI via Getty Images)
The St. Louis Blues have been one of the most talented teams in the NHL over the past few seasons, but they have had disappointing finishes every year. Many people thought the team was going to take a big step back this year after losing several key players in the off-season.
The St. Louis Blues have currently completed six games in the 2016-2017 NHL season, and nothing we have seen suggests that they are ready to give up their spot near the top of the Western Conference. While the Blues look fully capable of making another deep run in the playoffs, inconsistent play from the offense and goalies have kept the Blues from an amazing start to the season.
The Blues offense showed great chemistry in the first few games of the season despite losing David Backes and Troy Brouwer. The Blues had a tough rivalry game against the Chicago Blackhawks to open the season, but St. Louis had no problem putting five goals in the back of the net on the way to an easy victory.
The offense kept up their solid play when they took on the Minnesota Wild in the second game of the season. The Blues got great play from every line as they went on to defeat the Wild 3-2. Nail Yakupov was acquired by the Blues just before the start of the regular season, and he came up big with two points in the win over Minnesota.
The Blues did not play their best game against the New York Rangers, but they were still able to maintain their perfect record early in the season. The Blues only managed to tally 18 shots in the entire game, but they somehow managed to put three of those shots in the net.
Backup goalie Carter Hutton also came up huge with 33 saves in the 3-2 win over the Rangers. If any Blues fans were worried about the loss of Brian Elliot at the backup goalie position, then Hutton eased their minds with an amazing performance against the Rangers.
After starting the season with three wins, the Blues have been hurt by inconsistent play from most of the team. Goalie Jake Allen gave up a late goal to allow the Vancouver Canucks to send the fourth game of the season to overtime. Allen allowed another easy goal less than two minutes into overtime for a 2-1 loss. Jake Allen continued to struggle when the Blues took on the Edmonton Oilers in the fifth game of the season. While the Blues had a large shot advantage, they still ended up losing the game 3-1.
The Blues are sitting near the top of the Western Conference standings after six games, but winning four games doesn’t amount to being Stanley Cup favorites. The goalies have allowed at least two goals in every game. The offense has been able to pick up the slack in three of the first five games, but the goalies are going to need to win games for their team too. If the Blues can get a little more consistency from the offense and goalkeeping, then they will be one of the top teams in the NHL.
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