Being in St Louis, I naturally root for the Blues. They've sucked horribly the past several games though.
They were without Backes, Berglund, Oshie, Tarasenko, Sobotka, Roy, and Morrow in the last games of the season due to injuries.
Statistically, this is over 40% of the entire team's scoring. There are only players in the TOP half of the team, as far as points, including their 2nd and 3rd highest point getters (Oshie and Backes, respectively), that were missing.
I agree that they played like crap, but I saw good games in their last 3. Although being shutout in 2 of those 3, they looked a lot better than before that. The way I see it, the Blues hit rock bottom right around the 1st or 2nd game of their 6 game losing streak to finish the season. They barely beat Buffalo, easily the worst team in the league, and then lost 4 to 0 against Colorado. After that, they lost to a Chicago Blackhawks team that was missing several key players, 4 to 2.
For me, that was rock bottom, and they have started the climb. In the last 3 or 4 games, I thought the Blues played quite well for the amount of players missing. They even lost 4 to 2 against Minnesota despite outshooting them 45 to 15. That is a good sign. It looks to me as though they are getting back on track. With all of the previously listed injured players returning for game 1 against the Hawks, except Tarasenko and Berglund, the Blues are still a more balanced team than Chicago.
If Miller starts trusting himself between the pipes and the strong defensive line of the Blues keeps dominating, both defensively and offensively, the Blackhawks are going to find trouble scoring. And we all know defense wins championships. The only teams that I think have as good a defense as the Blues are the Kings and Bruins, which is why both are huge favorites to make it to the finals.
The Blues have been kind of brushed under the rug and forgotton after those last 6 games. The focus has shifted to the Ducks, Bruins, Kings, and Blackhawks to make it to the finals. There's no better time for the Blues to remind everyone just how good a team they are.
If the Blues make it past the first round, all bets are off. If they get through this slump and gain confidence by winning a series, especially against their rival, it will be tough to stop them, perhaps impossible.
EDIT: Oh, and I forgot to mention. The playoffs start tomorrow. If your team is in the playoffs, commence the growing of the facial hair.
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