ST. LOUIS – There are currently five St. Louis Blues players who were part of the longest winning streak in franchise history in 2019.
Jordan Binnington, Brayden Schenn, Oskar Sundqvist, Robert Thomas and Colton Parayko (injured) can now stake claim to a second historical streak.
The Blues set a new benchmark with their 12th straight win when they held off the Colorado Avalanche, 5-4 at Enterprise on Saturday.
For all the talk about this current Blues team not being able to put together a three-game winning streak as late as January, right now, they can’t seem to lose a game no matter how what the score is.
“It’s very cool,” Binnington said after making 35 saves. “It’s good to enjoy these moments, especially at home. It’s really fun to play here right now and you can tell there’s good energy all around. At the same time, we’ve got to focus and keep looking forward while we’re here.”
Robert Thomas continues to tear a blazing trail of points; he had a goal and four assists to give him 19 points (four goals, 15 assists) in an eight-game point streak; Cam Fowler had three assists and Zack Bolduc scored two power-play goals to lead the Blues (43-28-7), who are now four points clear of the Minnesota Wild for the first wild card from the Western Conference.
And they’re doing this without Parayko, who’s been out with a left knee injury since March 5, and now Dylan Holloway, who’s week to week with a lower-body injury.
“We've lost some really good, important players to our lineup,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “It means we're good. We're a good hockey team.
“I am proud of that group in there to be able to overcome all of the adversity that we've had this year, whether that was self-inflicted by us. It doesn't matter. We've overcome it. I'm proud of that group for what they've achieved.”
The Blues built a 4-0 lead before getting a bit complacent and then having to fend off the Avalanche (47-27-4), who the Blues also beat 2-1 in Denver a week ago Saturday, giving Colorado (6-2-1) its only two regulation losses in the past nine games.
“We’re playing the right way,” said Blues forward Pavel Buchnevich, who scored his 100th goal with the Blues. “We’re playing for each other. Sacrifice for the team and it’s working right now. We should keep going.”
Let’s look at Saturday’s Three Takeaways:
* Winning the special teams – The Blues didn’t do themselves any favors, especially early, by taking three minor penalties in the first period, and despite being outshot 13-4 on special teams by the Avalanche, the Blues won the game with special teams’ play.
The Avalanche had 12 shots on their three power plays; the Blues had three shots on their three power plays. But they made two of theirs count and won the special teams’ battle 2-0, thanks to a pair of power-play goals by Bolduc, each in the bumper position and receiving passes from Thomas.
The first came at the 49-second mark of the opening period, or 18 seconds after Joel Kiviranta was whistled for cross checking Jordan Kyrou, to give the Blues a 1-0 lead.
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