The St. Louis Blues are in the midst of a five-game win streak with just one game to go before the All-Star break. The club is in a playoff spot right now with a 26-20-2 record for 54 points. Despite the tough schedule in January, the Blues have played well with a record of 8-3-1.
Related: Blues News & Rumors: Winning Streak, Tucker & More
They are one point ahead of the Nashville Predators for the final Wild Card spot in the Western Conference. Let’s get into five takeaways from the five-game win streak.
1. Getting It Done in Overtime
The last three wins for the Blues during this streak have had the same score of 4-3 in overtime over the Vancouver Canucks, Seattle Kraken, and Los Angeles Kings. To add onto that, they also beat the Calgary Flames 4-3 in regulation before that, so the last four wins have been by a score of 4-3.
On the season, the club is 5-0-1 in games that have ended in overtime with their only loss in 3-on-3 coming against the Boston Bruins on Jan. 13. They look much more comfortable in overtime and have dominated puck possession in the last three overtime wins.
They are outshooting opponents 5-2 with the Canucks and Kraken registering one shot in overtime and the Kings having zero. Brayden Schenn is up to 13 goals on the season and netted the overtime winners against the Canucks and Kings on eerily similar shots to the glove side. Pavel Buchnevich scored the overtime winner against the Kraken and is now up to 17 goals on the season. It’s nice to see the Blues getting it done in overtime.
2. Top Line is Buzzing
I can’t write enough good things about the play of the Blues’ top line that features Buchnevich, Robert Thomas, and Jordan Kyrou. Whether it’s Kyrou or Jake Neighbours on the wing, any line with Buchnevich and Thomas has been brilliant this season. Throughout the current win streak, the combination of Buchnevich-Thomas-Kyrou has generated seven goals and a total of 20 points.
This line takes a lot of pressure off the other three lines. Buchnevich looks as healthy as ever and Kyrou is back to producing points regularly. The one consistent for the entire season in St. Louis has been Thomas, who is the club’s lone All-Star and has 52 points in 48 games. These three have been a huge driving factor during this win streak. It’ll be important for them to finish strong as the All-Star break approaches.
3. Power Play Production
The Blues’ power play is clicking at 35.7 percent (5-for-14) during the streak. They are up to 15.5 percent on the season, which is good for 25th in the league. Before the recent production, the power play was sitting under 10 percent and around 31st or 32nd all season. They have far too many good forwards and puck movers to be as bad as they were on the man advantage for the first three months of the season.
The Blues have a power play or shorthanded goal in each of the games during this streak. The top unit has scored four power-play goals, while the second unit has scored one. The shakeups between the two units this month are paying off right now.
4. Bannister Doing a Nice Job
After firing head coach Craig Berube, Blues general manager Doug Armstrong gave Drew Bannister a chance to coach the big club for the remainder of the 2023-24 season. Bannister did a great job with the Springfield Thunderbirds of the American Hockey League (AHL) with two playoff appearances, including a run to the Calder Cup Final in 2022.
Armstrong also left it open to interpretation whether Bannister would be coaching in St. Louis for the rest of the season, but with a 13-6-1 record heading towards the All-Star break, it would be stunning if he doesn’t get to finish out the season. The Blues won 13 of 28 games under Berube, so getting to 13 wins in 20 games under Bannister is a big improvement. The win streak helps that as well.
I still think the Blues should conduct a vast coaching search in the summer, but Bannister should be a serious candidate regardless. It wouldn’t hurt the organization at all to bring in an outside voice, whether it’s an experienced veteran coach or a first-time head coach. Either way, Bannister has done a nice job in 20 games as the interim head coach of the club.
5. What the Trade Deadline Might Look Like
There is still reason for the Blues to sell pieces at the trade deadline. The inconsistency of this group has been well-documented over the past two seasons and they are only a point above the playoff line. It’s also taken a five-game win streak with a goal differential of just plus-7 throughout. Armstrong should be careful about which pieces he sells off, but almost everyone should be available to contending clubs.
Defensemen Colton Parayko and Torey Krug remain names to watch on the Fourth Period’s Trade Watch List. The club should have every defenseman available in trade discussions and it wouldn’t surprise me if they take calls on goaltender Jordan Binnington as well. They should not alter their plan because of a win streak.
This win streak has been impressive to watch and it will be interesting to see how it goes after the All-Star break with just one game left before it.
