Blues Complete West's Elite Eight Field

Hockey is a funny sport, isn't it? Six years ago, the St. Louis Blues finally did it. Their first Stanley Cup Championship in their long franchise history; the last team from that 1967 group to win the big one. After that, a hard fall. First round exits in each of the last two seasons, and then in 2022, an embarrassing second round loss to the Colorado Avalanche. That year ended up breaking the Blues, as the team sank to near rock bottom. They cleaned house. Let go of anyone relevant. It showed in the last two years. Terrible seasons all around. Even this year looked like it would be more of the same.

And then, Four Nations ended.

All of a sudden, the Blues exploded. Big wins left and right. A 12-game winning streak. Talk of the Blues being in the playoffs! This year?! Just three years after the beginning of the end?! It's true. The Blues actually had chances to get into the playoffs. Though the first clinching scenarios didn't pan out, they still had a chance in their 82nd and final game of the regular season. All they had to do was win in regulation against the Utah Hockey Club. Yeah, scoring four goals in the first period will definitely do it. The countdown was on after that period. It ended up being a 6-1 victory for the Blues, and with that, they were officially playoff bound.

Entering the Four Nations break, the Blues were 25-26-5. They were behind three teams in the playoff race. Since then: 19-4-3 in their final 26 games. They actually had a shot at finishing at the WC1 spot! That's how good their stretch was. Holy guacamole!

In this rebuild, Jordan Kyrou has emerged as the top player on the team by far, and this year continued to show that fact. Robert Thomas ended up as the top points scorer with 81 points (21 G/60 A), but when it came to putting the puck in the net, no Blues player did it more than Kyrou. Kyrou's 70 points were second behind Thomas, but 36 of those 70 points were goals. This included scoring two in the third period of Game #82 aganst Utah. Dylan Holloway (26 G-37 A-63 P) and Pavel Buchnevich (20 G-37-A-57 P) have both been strong offensive players for St. Louis, and regarding defensemen, Colton Parayko has been leading the way with 16 goals.

Of course, I cannot talk about the Blues' season without bringing up Jordan Binnington. Remember when he was supposed to be washed so soon after winning the Cup? We all laughed, didn't we? The fact that he's a major asswipe made laughing at him much easier, and a lot of fun. However, we have been seeing glimpses of 2019 Binnington. You remember that Binnington, right? The guy who stopped anything and everything from getting in the net? Yeah, that guy. We saw it in Four Nations; he was in net as Canada went on to win the whole thing, and we've been seeing Four Nations Binnington ever since then. Ay caramba!

So the Blues are in, that means the Calgary Flames' season came to an end while they were still playing at home against Vegas. The Western Elite Eight is complete, and all four West series are set and locked in. Regarding the Blues, they're the 2nd Wild Card and they'll face the Presidents' Trophy winning Winnipeg Jets in the Central Division Semifinals. Overall, one spot remains open in the NHL's Sweet 16. As for the Blues, they can take this, and run with it. No one had this team going anywhere, but here they are in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. It's absolutely stunning and amazing!