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NHL playoffs 2017: St. Louis Blues preview

By David Austin Bumpus

Mar 27, 2017; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Blues left wing Jaden Schwartz (17) is congratulated by right wing Nail Yakupov (64) and center Ivan Barbashev (49) after the Blues defeats the Arizona Coyotes at Scottrade Center. The Blues won 4-1. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 27, 2017; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Blues left wing Jaden Schwartz (17) is congratulated by right wing Nail Yakupov (64) and center Ivan Barbashev (49) after the Blues defeats the Arizona Coyotes at Scottrade Center. The Blues won 4-1. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports /
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The St. Louis Blues have gained a lot of momentum in the last two months, and hope to utilize their hot streaks to return to their usual playoff success.

The Blues seem to mirror their Eastern Conference twin from Boston, the Bruins, who had a similar road to the playoffs this season. Both teams struggled early in the year, both fired their head coach over halfway through the year, and both went on tears to end the season in the hunt for a title.

St. Louis will make its sixth straight appearance in the finals, the sixth longest active streak in the NHL, and will hope to bounce back from their Western Conference Finals loss to the Sharks last year.

This Blues team, however, is not the same one we’ve experienced in years past, and has a lot of maturing to do in a short time to adjust to the postseason.

Why they can win

The Blues have a lot going in their favor heading into the postseason, and are riding hot streaks at just the right time in the year. Under the leadership of head coach Mike Yeo since the Hitchcock firing on February 1, the team went on a tear, with two separate winning streaks of five or more games. The team is 21-8-2 going into Sunday under Yeo, and bounced back from a 24-21-5 start under Hitchcock.

When the team gets rolling, it’s tough to stop the Blues. All their success has been peaked by two players, specifically: Vladimir Tarasenko and Jake Allen. Tarasenko saw a spike in production under the new leadership, posting 27 points in the team’s last 34 games, with 16 goals in that timespan.

Tarasenko had 39 points in the team’s first 50 games, for reference, with just 22 goals in that stretch. He also hit career highs in points and assists over the weekend, with two assists in the team’s win over the Hurricanes on Saturday.

In net, Allen has also seen his stats rise under Yeo, bringing his numbers back down to what a starting goalie should be seeing. He barely got back around the league average for his stats, ranking 15th in goals against average, and tied for 22nd in save percentage. He’s not anything spectacular, but he’s been good enough for the Blues down this key stretch to end the year.

Why they can’t win

Unfortunately for the Blues, there seem to be far more reasons as to why they can’t win than they can at this point, despite all their momentum heading into the playoffs. It’s tough to pick out the biggest issue the Blues may run into, because there are just so many looming problems that will affect the team greatly.

The one that the team can’t do anything about is their injury issues. St. Louis may be without Paul Stastny, who has missed every game since March 21st with what is rumored to be a broken foot, for the start of the playoffs. Other injuries are evident with Jori Lehtera, Carl Gunnarson, and Robert Bortuzzo, all veteran presences on the team.

Lehtera returned to the lineup against the Panthers on April 4 from a concussion, Gunnarson is back from a lower-body injury, and Bortuzzo is still sidelined with an upper-body injury. While some are returning, or at least close to it, from these injuries, the idea of going into the playoffs on the mend isn’t the most enticing for a team that’s already scratching and crawling into the postseason.

Along with these injuries, which could become a larger issue if they pile on, is the inexperience of the young roster. The team is without the usual presence of guys like David Backes and Alex Petrangelo to provide leadership on both offense and defense, and the possible lack of Stastny could provide an issue where Tarasenko and Alexander Steen are called on to carry the team on his own.

X-Factor

Jake Allen

Allen will have to keep up his upward trend since Yeo’s promotion if the Blues have any chance to succeed in the playoffs. The team is incredibly hit-or-miss when it comes to offense, and has recently been on a slump on their power play (just one power play goal in a stretch of eight games, before two against the Panthers).

The two of those combined don’t give Allen a whole lot to work with as far as mistakes are concerned, and the goaltender will have to give peak performances, in case his offense can’t back him up.

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Prediction

The Blues are matching up with the Wild in the first round, which provides a solid opener for a St. Louis team that will need a “warm-up” against a struggling team. The Wild have just eight wins in 21 games since March began, but four of them are their most recent games.

Mike Yeo will be looking to take down his former team and Central rival, and the Blues have turned it on at the right time towards the end of the year. Both teams are hot-streak reliant, and I think the Blues have the momentum to carry them to a first round win, before getting bounced in the second round.