The Stanley Cup has never come to the city in the 48-year history of the St. Louis Blues. After capturing the Central division with 109 points and finishing with a record of 51-24-7 the Blues are the No. 2 seed and will take on the No. 1 wild card team, the Minnesota Wild, in the first round of the dance. This could finally be their year.
St. Louis tied with the Anaheim Ducks for the No. 1 seed in the West, but the Ducks got the upper hand on the Blues due to the record in head-to-head matchups this year. The Blues finished the season on a hot streak as they won five of their last six games, including two big wins against division rival the Chicago Blackhawks.
Right wing Vladimir Tarasenko finished with a team high 37 goals scored this season while racking up 73 points, the most ever in his young NHL career. Although Tarasenko was hampered with a lower-body injury causing him to miss a couple games at the end of the season, both him and left wing Alexander Steen (lower-body injury) returned to the ice in the season finale and will be no doubt ready to go in the playoffs.
“Tarasenko and Steen are our most creative players,” head coach Ken Hitchcock said to the media this past Friday. “They’re the guys that have led the team in scoring all year. Getting them both in the lineup is real good for us.”
Goalie Jake Allen has been dominate down the stretch for St. Louis as All-Star tender Brian Elliott seems as if he is fading come playoff time once again. Hitchcock stated earlier in the season that Elliott was their guy and they were going to ride him as long as possible. Looking at the past five games for each goalie, Elliott has allowed 3.4 goals per game while the 24-year-old Allen has sparkled only allowing 1.2 goals per game.
“I think it would be smart of Hitchcock to start Allen game one because he has been playing very well the past games,” junior Colleen Corkery said. “Although Elliott plays well against the Wild, I think it is better to put Allen in the net. The rest of the playoffs I think they should go with Allen because of the fact he’s been so sharp as of late.”
As for the rest of the club, the new acquisitions of centers Marcel Goc and Olli Jokinen have been a great fit since coming to St. Louis. Hometown center Paul Statsny, who was acquired in the offseason, racked up 16 goals this season as well as the usual Blues suspects, David Backes (26 goals), Jaden Schwartz (28 goals) and TJ Oshie (19 goals) all had tremendous seasons.
Defensively, St. Louis is right where they need to be. Alex Pietrangelo played great all season and All-Star Kevin Shattenkirk who missed about six weeks with a lower-body injury is all healed up and ready to go in the playoffs. Jay Bouwmeester and of course the always steady Barrett Jackman have the veteran experience to lead this team deep into the playoffs, also the addition of Zbynek Michalek from the Arizona Coyotes has been key as he owns a rating of +3 since moving to the Blues.
“Jake Allen has played well in net against playoff teams we need to beat,” senior Cole Seifert said. “With key goal scorers like Tarasenko and Steen returning to the lineup as well as Shattenkirk having a stellar season on the Blue line, I think the Blues have all the components of a deep playoff run.”
St. Louis takes on Minnesota in game one of the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs Thursday night at home at 8:30 pm.
*Since the completion of this article Jake Allen has been named the game one starter