ST. LOUIS — The last time the St. Louis Blues lost a game, the St. Louis Cardinals were still a week away from beginning their 2022 season at Busch Stadium. In short, it's been a good April.
With a playoff spot wrapped up and a first-round date with Minnesota all but assured, all that's left for the Blues in the regular season is to stay healthy, and keep the momentum.
The Blues have six games left on their regular-season schedule before things ramp up to that unmistakable playoff intensity. And right now, the team's offense looks unstoppable amid their nine-game winning streak.
Some highlights:
- The Blues have seven skaters with 20 or more goals. That's the most 20-goal scorers the franchise has had since 1984-85.
- The Blues have scored four or more goals in 12 straight games. That's the second-longest streak of its kind in the NHL since 1986-87.
- The Blues scored seven goals in the second period against Nashville on Sunday. That's a franchise record.
- the Blues' power play is second-best in the NHL as of Monday night at 26.7 percent. According to St.LouisBlues.com, the highest power-play percentage the franchise ever registered was 24.6 percent in 1980-81.
- Vladimir Tarasenko is having a career rebirth in 2021-22, with 33 goals and 43 assists. He was named the NHL's first star of the week.
- Robert Thomas is having a breakout season with 18 goals and 55 assists. He's the first Blue to notch 50 assists in a season since Doug Weight did it in 2003-04.
So, yeah. It's going pretty well.
"I'm very happy with the team and the way they're performing. They're playing for each other. Right now they're doing a good job. It's all about the team. We've got to stick with that and keep pushing," Blues head coach Craig Berube said after the Nashville game.
With two more wins in a row, the Blues will match their franchise-best winning streak of 11, set in that magical 2018-19 Stanley Cup season.
And right now, they feel unstoppable.
"I think we've been building our game really well," Blues forward Jordan Kyrou said. "That's everyone. Both goalies have been playing great. Our defense has been awesome. Obviously our offense has been amazing scoring goals. We're just trying to play the right way and build our game every game."
The Blues' biggest asset is their balance.
They can beat you with any line, at any time. There's no one player for other teams to key on because the Blues score as a collective. It's a feature the team knows could be important come playoff time.
"Every line can play and score goals and do the right thing. That's obviously huge. It's definitely going to be huge in the playoffs," Kyrou said.
All of those glitzy regular season statistics will be thrown out the window in a few weeks, but the success this team has had lately has given them added confidence they can bring home another Stanley Cup.
"(We can go) all the way I think," Kyrou said. "I don't think, I know we can do it. We have a great team. So we're all looking forward to the playoffs to do it."