Blues soldiering on before playing Blackhawks
There must be something in the water in St. Louis.
It might help explain how the Cardinals make the MLB postseason year after year after year, despite an ever-changing roster. And it might also explain how the Blues have managed to go 28-15-4 this season in the wake of a seemingly endless wave of injuries.
Six key players have missed time. Three of them - defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk, center Paul Stastny and winger Jaden Schwartz - missed at least 10 games. Schwartz, a 25-goal scorer who has missed 44 games, is still recovering from a fractured ankle.
The latest blow to coach Ken Hitchcock's squad came on Jan. 8 when goalie Jake Allen injured his knee in a game at Anaheim.
The Blues, who visit the Blackhawks for a 6 p.m. game Sunday, were in a 0-3-2 tailspin when Allen went down but have bounced back to win five of seven since.
Let's pause here for a second to think about what would happen to the Blackhawks if they lost Duncan Keith, Artem Anisimov and Artemi Panarin for any serious length of time. Or Brent Seabrook, Jonathan Toews and Marian Hossa. Could they thrive the way the Blues have? It's a question Hawks fans would rather not answer.
Certainly, losing Corey Crawford would be a terrible blow, perhaps similar to what has happened to Montreal in Carey Price's absence. The Canadiens have gone from the best team in the league to one fighting for a playoff berth.
The Blues, though, just soldier on.
They are certainly fortunate to have a backup goal-tender as capable as Brian Elliott, who is 5-1-1 with a .944 save percentage since Allen got hurt.
"He's competing at a very, very high level now," Hitchcock said last Monday after the Blues beat the Penguins 5-2. "He's taking advantage of a situation that was thrust upon him, but his competitive level's as high as I've seen it right now. It's really good to see."
There's plenty more to this amazing season that solid goal-tending, though.
"The Blues created quite a bit of depth last off-season and it has been extremely beneficial this year," said Jeremy Rutherford, who covers the team for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "They have also brought in some rookies who have been able to contribute, I think, more than anyone expected."
Those rookies include center Robby Fabbri, who has 11 goals, and defensemen Colton Parayko and Joel Edmundson. Parayko, a third-round pick in 2012, has been particularly impressive, scoring 6 goals and registering a plus-18 rating in 48 games.
Another off-the-radar contributor has been Scottie Upshall, who made the team out of training camp on a professional tryout. A veteran of nearly 600 NHL games, Upshall has been a steadying influence during this injury-plagued season.
The Blues lost to Colorado 2-1 in a shootout Friday when the Avs' Nathan MacKinnon scored with just 53.7 seconds remaining. It was a tough loss, but St. Louis still has 64 points and is firmly entrenched in third place in the Central Division, just 4 points behind the first-place Blackhawks.
They've done all this despite outscoring opponents by just 3 goals on the season. To put that in perspective, the other teams with 60 or more standings points - Washington, Dallas, the Hawks and Los Angeles - all had goal differentials of at least plus-17 heading into Saturday's action. (Washington's is plus-55).
The bottom line is the Blues are winning the close games - they are an incredible 16-2-8 in 1-goal affairs, and they can mostly thank Allen (.924 save percentage) and Elliott (.927) for that.
Now, imagine what this team might look like when Schwartz is back, possibly right after the all-star break. All the 23-year-old did the past two seasons is rack up 53 goals and 66 assists.
Also, defenseman Carl Gunnarsson just returned from an upper-body injury, and winger Magnus Paajavri, who has missed six games (upper-body), should return soon.
"We've managed a very challenging season really well," Hitchcock said last week. "We can't have the attitude that, 'Now they've come back, they can do the job now, our work is over.' They're just going to get added to the mix."
A mix that has worked awfully well so far.
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Scouting report
Blackhawks (32-15-4) vs. St. Louis Blues (28-15-8) at United Center, 6 p.m.
TV: Comcast WGN; Radio: WGN 720-AM
The skinny: The Blackhawks will try to avoid their second three-game losing streak of the season. Coach Joel Quenneville's team hasn't scored a goal since Artem Anisimov gave the Hawks a 1-0 lead 47 seconds into their 2-1 loss in Tampa Bay on Thursday. That's a dry spell of 119 minutes, 17 seconds. ... These teams have split their previous two meetings. When they met at the United Center on Nov. 4, the Hawks scored 5 first-period goals, but the Blues came back and won 6-5 in overtime. The Hawks won 10 days later in St. Louis, 4-2.
Next: Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena, 6 p.m. Tuesday
- John Dietz