St. Louis Blues Search for Back-to-Back Consistency Against Minnesota Wild
After an impressive win over the Chicago Blackhawks to kick off the 2016-17 season, the St. Louis Blues get an opportunity to improve to 2-0 both for the season and in the division on Thursday night.
After losing key contributors Brian Elliott, David Backes, and Troy Brouwer this offseason, there were some legitimate questions all summer about whether the St. Louis Blues could still hang with their Central Division foes. While those questions are certainly still relevant and justified, the Blues got off to a solid start on Wednesday night, defeating the rival Blackhawks 5-2 in their season opener at United Center. For a Blues team that hadn’t won a regular season game at United Center in regulation since April of 2015, the win definitely carried some momentum.
The Blues will try to improve to 2-0 both on the season and in the division on Thursday, as they’ll open their home schedule against the Minnesota Wild. There have been seasons in the past when a game played the night after another game would’ve meant near-certain doom for the Blues. But for whatever reason, whether it was a change in practice routines, a level of lineup consistency that was forced by injuries, or a simple attitude adjustment, the Blues found a way to compete in back-to-backs last season. The Blues finished with a record of 8-4 in the second end of back-to-backs during 2015-16.
It will be interesting to see how the Blues fare Thursday against the Wild, one of the teams that they’re most closely trying to emulate this season as they transition to more of a speed and skill-based approach. Along with the Blackhawks, the Wild were one of just two Western Conference teams that beat the Blues twice in regulation during 2015-16, and for the past few seasons they’ve given the Blues major fits.
Two things play in the Blues’ favor this time around, though. First of all, the Blues are now better equipped than any team to battle with the Wild, considering that two of their recently-deposed coaches–Mike Yeo (their former head coach) and Rick Wilson–joined the Blues’ staff this offseason. Obviously, things have changed with Bruce Boudreau now behind the Wild bench, and the roster has changed a bit, but there can’t be too many men who know how to handle the Wild better than Yeo and Wilson.
In addition, much of the advantage that the Wild have had over the Blues in recent years has stemmed from the fact that they’re simply so much faster as a collective group. That won’t be as much of a problem for the Blues this year, as they’ve added some more skillful skaters like David Perron and Nail Yakupov to replace Backes and Brouwer, who were two of the slower skaters on the roster.
While it’s early in the season and many of these games will be relatively inconsequential in the long run, this is a division game that could bring the Blues some major momentum if they’re able to win it.
Let’s take a look at what the Blues’ lineup is expected to look like for the home opener: