The Blues are heading into a three-game road trip with a simple chance to keep rolling, and the week opens under the bright lights of the NHL’s Frozen Frenzy. St.
Louis is coming off a 5-3 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets, a game that got some of the team’s key contributors on the board. Jordan Binnington got the win, but that doesn’t change the bigger picture: he’s still in a precarious position.
The schedule is as standard as it gets - Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday - and every stop comes away from home. That starts tonight in Ottawa, where the Blues face a Senators team that played a back-to-back and beat the Devils 4-1 in New Jersey yesterday.
If the timing works in St. Louis’ favor, the rested Blues can try to make Ottawa pay for the travel and the workload.
The Senators are also dealing with some serious injury trouble. Top defenseman Jake Sanderson and newcomer William Eklund are both out, while Artem Zub is also sidelined.
Kurtis MacDermid is unavailable too. That leaves St.
Louis with a clear opening, and this is the kind of game they should be targeting to set the tone for the trip.
The challenge gets much sharper on October 15 in Minnesota. The Wild are missing Brock Faber on the back end and Filip Gustavsson in goal, but they’re still a dangerous group with talent spread throughout the lineup.
This is the first of two Central Division games for the Blues this week, and those points matter. If St.
Louis can keep Kirill Kaprizov and Quinn Hughes quiet, the path gets a lot cleaner. The one thing they can’t do is hand Minnesota chances on the power play, because the Wild are clicking near 40 percent, tied for second in the league.
The trip wraps up in Nashville on October 17, and the Predators remain one of the tougher teams to pin down this season. Last summer made it clear they’re looking toward the future, even after the moves made by new general manager Chris MacFarland left them as a much-improved team.
Through five games, Nashville was 2-1-2 at the time of writing, but their season could go in very different directions depending on what Juuse Saros gives them. If he’s at his best, they can hang around as a bubble playoff team.
If he’s merely average, the Predators could be headed for a long year and a sell-off of top talent.
For the Blues, the formula is straightforward: squeeze points out of a half-in, half-out division rival and make the road trip count.
In Other News...
Blues Rolled Ottawa But One Lingering Problem Still Looks Serious
The Blues lopsided win over Ottawa had plenty to like, from strong contributions across the lineup to a scoreboard that never really let the Senators back in. Pius Suter, Colton Parayko, Mason McTavish, Jake Neighbours and Adam Jiricek were all part of a night that gave St. Louis some much-needed positive momentum and a reminder of how dangerous the group can look when its moving and finishing well.
Still, the game also left one familiar concern hanging in the background. St. Louis managed to convert on only one of its three power-play chances against Ottawa, and the early-season numbers remain uncomfortably low for a unit that is supposed to help separate tight games and extend leads when the even-strength scoring dries up. [Read more 🡒]
Blues Injuries Just Opened A Real Door For Otto Stenberg
The Blues forward depth took a hit with Alexei Toropchenko and Dillon Dube both sidelined, and the timing could hardly be better for Otto Stenberg. St. Louis has been looking for answers in its bottom six, and now theres a legitimate opening for a young player to push his way into the conversation as the team sorts through its options.
Stenberg is at least on the radar for future NHL duty, and the path hed be walking is clearer than it was a week ago. A call-up has not been announced, but with openings available and the lineup needing reinforcements, the Blues have a real chance to see whether he can handle a role that would put him in the mix with the clubs third-line group. [Read more 🡒]
Blues Finally Have The Offensive Support Their Top Line Needed
The early part of the season has already offered a different kind of look for St. Louis, one that has the Blues at 3-2-1 and showing a more balanced attack than they did at times a year ago. The top line still matters, of course, but the help behind it has been the real story so far, with newcomers Mason McTavish and Connor McMichael giving the roster the kind of secondary punch that can keep opponents from keying on the same handful of names every night.
For a team that has long needed more answers beyond its stars, that shift matters almost as much as the record itself. The coaching staff is leaning into depth scoring to tilt matchups in the Blues favor, and early results suggest the strategy is giving St. Louis a more sustainable way to generate offense while taking pressure off its primary scorers. [Read more 🡒]