As the St. Louis Blues entered the final week of the season with four home games, the stage was set for controlling their own destiny, securing home-ice advantage in the playoffs and maybe a Presidents’ trophy for top spot in the League. The Blues have taken full advantage of this final week.
While the Presidents’ trophy was captured by the New York Rangers earlier in the week, St. Louis rattled off a 2-1 victory in Chicago before falling at home to a feisty Winnipeg Jets team 1-0. This set-up a Thursday night tilt at home against, Chicago. If the Blackhawks won, they would tighten the top of the division point leaders. But the Blues had other ideas.
Dominating from the start to a rugged and physical Chicago reeling from a loss to St. Louis earlier in the week, the Blues opened the scoring in the second period with a goal from third-line sniper Dmitrij Jaskin. The game remained tight before Peter Stastny scored on an odd-man rush late in the third. The 2-0 lead seemed comfortable before Andrew Shaw netted Chicago’s first goal, making things interesting. But the Blues weathered the attack and, coupled with Minnesota’s 4-2 win at Nashville, allowed St. Louis to secure the division crown, their 9th in franchise history.
For St. Louis, Allen was the difference, winning his 5th in 7 starts (5-1-1) where he has allowed just 8 goals and registering a 0.966 save percentage. In Allen’s last 15 decisions, he is 11-2-2, allowing just 24 goals and a save percentage of 0.952. With their fate secured to close the season, St. Louis will likely start goaltender Brian Elliott in the season finale against Minnesota on Saturday afternoon.
In addition to the division title, there was more good news. Leading scorers Vladimir Tarasenko and Alex Steen will return for the Minnesota game after being out with injuries. With the team’s top offensive threats sidelined for ten days, St. Louis gained scoring from secondary sources and played a grinding, wear-down style. This necessary adjustment allowed the Blues to secure 1st place and win some key games down the stretch. With the return of the team’s top firepower, the balanced, four-line attack will be ready for the playoffs and provide a formidable challenge for their next opponent.
With the eight participants in the Western Conference playoff secured, there are just two things yet to determine for St. Louis.
First, while they are the first seed in the Central division, they can still gain the top spot in the conference should they make it to the third round. They are currently tied with Anaheim for that spot. The Blues must gain at least one point to have a chance at the top conference spot. Because Anaheim holds the tiebreaker, the combination of a Blues win AND a Ducks regulation or overtime/shutout loss OR a Blues overtime/shootout loss AND a Ducks regulation loss secures the top conference spot for St. Louis. Anaheim plays the Coyotes in Arizona Saturday night.
Also to be determined is the Blues’ foe for the first round. While the Blues will face either of the two wild-cards, depending upon where they finish relative to Anaheim, four teams could fall into one of those two spots with one game to go for each. They are Chicago (Saturday night at Colorado), Minnesota (Saturday afternoon at St. Louis), and Winnipeg who hosts Calgary on Saturday afternoon in Winnipeg.
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