ST. LOUIS — When Jim Montgomery took over behind the St. Louis Blues’ bench in late November, the team won its first two games and then lost the third in overtime. That’s happened three more times under Montgomery — win two, lose the next.
In fact, going back to the start of the season under former coach Drew Bannister, it’s happened seven times, and the team is 0-6-1 when trying to win its third in a row.
Stop me if you know where I’m going with this.
The Blues’ back-to-back victories over the Calgary Flames — 4-1 on Thursday and 2-1 on Tuesday — were huge.
“They’re massive,” forward Dylan Holloway said. “Those wins are massive for us.”
OK, massive.
Calgary began the week in the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference standings and was five points ahead of the Blues. If the Flames had won both matchups between the teams, they would’ve been nine points in front. Instead, they left town just one point up (49-48), albeit with two games in hand.
“Big games, we treated them like playoff games, and we came out with a lot of intensity today,” forward Jordan Kyrou said.
Yes, the intensity was there, even more so in the rematch Thursday when the Blues could have conceded a split.
“We needed to win both games to really get close,” Montgomery said. “Now we’re one point behind them. They have two games in hand, but they’ve got to go win those games. We did what we needed to do in these two games, but most importantly, (it’s) the way we played tonight and the way everybody in the lineup competed.”
All true, but you know by now where I’m going with this.
The Blues have to win three games in a row. They’ve got to win against the Utah Hockey Club on Saturday. And they know it.
“We’ve got to knock right through that door,” Montgomery said. “It’s another hurdle that we’ve got to go through together.”
Feelin’ hot hot hot 🥵#stlblues | @STLChildrens pic.twitter.com/9rfOHlbSgq
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) January 17, 2025
The Blues are five points ahead of Utah, which lost its third straight game Thursday, and they could stretch that to seven points with a regulation win Saturday.
“We’ve really got to dial in,” Holloway said. “We’ve got to understand that we played great tonight, but the next game starts 0-0. We can’t get complacent, we can’t think that it’s going to be easier; it’s going to be hard. Utah is going to be good. They’re in the playoff race, too. We’ve just got to be dialed for Utah.”
The two-game set against Calgary couldn’t have come at a better time in the season. It forced a Blues team that had been exemplifying the word “inconsistent” to figure out who it wanted to be. And the way they look coming out of these games is impressive.
Areas of recent concern are now areas of strength.
The top line centered by Robert Thomas had been leaking a little defensively, but matched up against one of the top shooting lines in the league in Calgary’s Jonathan Huberdeau, Nazem Kadri and Martin Pospisil, it didn’t allow a five-on-five goal and limited the trio to just five shots against and only one high-danger chance. In the two games, Huberdeau, Kadri and Pospisil combined for just 1 point — an assist by Pospisil — and was a collective minus-4.
“I thought the Thomas line was dominant tonight five-on-five,” Montgomery said.
The Blues’ line of Holloway, Kyrou and Brayden Schenn also did an admirable job on the Flames’ top line, not allowing a goal when they matched up. And after going through a little lull offensively with no points in back-to-back games, Schenn (two goals), Kyrou (one goal) and Holloway (two assists) combined for 5 points Thursday.
“I thought that that was the best game they’ve had in probably … (four) games ago, Anaheim?” Montgomery said. “They scored quite bit in that game, but I didn’t think they were as dominant as they were tonight.”
Meanwhile, you might burn your fingers if you touch Colton Parayko right now. He matched his career high with his 10th goal of the season Thursday, and he’s scored in three straight games, four of his last six and five of his last 10.
“I’ve had one conversation with him since I’ve been here,” Montgomery said. “I grabbed him after about seven games and I said, ‘Hey, I haven’t talked to you much because don’t change a thing.’ That’s the only thing I’ve said to him.”
But it’s not just Parayko putting up points from the blue line. The defensemen have not produced much offensively as a whole this season, but the unit has combined for 12 goals in the last 10 games: Parayko (five), Cam Fowler (four) and Justin Faulk, Philip Broberg and Tyler Tucker with one apiece.
“The numbers speak for themselves, but it’s where our defensemen are in the offensive zone,” Montgomery said. “It’s almost like they’re playing free right now. They’re just trusting where they should be. They’re holding pucks in the offensive zone, that’s extending our time, and they’re not afraid to shoot. They’re not looking for passes, they’re looking to shoot first and then they’re making plays second, which is the way we want them to be.”
Imagine facing this puck coming at you at 99.2 mph.
We’d get out of the way, too. pic.twitter.com/lwfI0730LC
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) January 17, 2025
After a rocky stretch recently with the goaltending, Jordan Binnington and Joel Hofer have not allowed more than two goals in the team’s last four games. In two starts apiece, they’ve combined to give up six goals on 110 shots (.945 save percentage).
“I would take our tandem over any tandem in the league,” Montgomery said.
And don’t look now, but even the Blues’ special teams are performing well.
The Blues’ power play had a goal from Schenn on Thursday, and perhaps more importantly, a team that has generated some of the lowest power-play time in the league drew three offensive-zone penalties; they scored on delayed penalties on two of the three, negating more power plays.
Their penalty kill was 3-for-3 in the two games against the Flames and allowed just one shot.
But it will matter little if the Blues can’t turn this into a stretch of wins.
“We need to go on a streak,” Schenn said. “That’s just the reality of it. We can’t be satisfied that we beat Calgary twice and then go on the road and not play well. Step by step, and we have to have a good road trip coming up.
“We realize where we’re at. We’re in a little better position than we were four days ago. You just keep getting the feeling of guys pumping each other up and playing for one another. When you creep up in the standings, it makes you play hard.”
After the Utah game Saturday, the Blues wrap up January with two games against the Vegas Golden Knights, followed by the Dallas Stars, Vancouver Canucks and Colorado Avalanche.
“For us, every game is kind of a playoff game now,” Kyrou said. “The energy has been good, and the last two games it’s been awesome. We want to keep that energy and keep the good vibes up.”
(Photo of Alexey Toropchenko shooting on goalie Dustin Wolf: Joe Puetz / Imagn Images)
