The Pittsburgh Penguins are in Missouri to face the hottest team in the NHL, the St. Louis Blues, winners of ten straight. Interestingly, the Blues last lost a game to the Penguins on March 13.
After the loss, St. Louis was 31-28-7 with 69 points, two out of the second wildcard spot, with two teams ahead of them. Meanwhile, they had a goal differential of minus-9.
Today, they have a seven-point lead in the wildcard race and are tied with the Minnesota Wild for the top wildcard spot. Moreover, with six games left, they are only seven points behind the Colorado Avalanche in third place in the Central Division.
Since their last loss to Pittsburgh, St. Louis is 10-0-0, scoring 41 goals and surrendering only 14, for a goal differential of plus-27, bringing their season totals up to plus-18. During this stretch, their power play is 7-for-29 (24%), and their penalty kill is 90.9%.
Considering how great the Blues are playing, the Penguins can halt St. Louis’s march toward rewriting its franchise record book with another win on Thursday night.
First, the Blues are one win away from tying their all-time win streak of 11 games during the 2018-19 season. Recently, when they collected their 10th win, they tied the 2001-02 team, which also won ten games and held the record for 16 years.
Second, St. Louis has won nine straight home games, which is tied for the longest win streak at home, set by the 1990-91 team and matched by the 2019-20 squad. A win on Thursday night would give the 2024-25 team the all-time mark.
Last time we wrote about the Penguins being party crashers on their road trip in Florida, they mailed in one of the worst back-to-back performances of the season.
Considering they are not mathematically eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs, they still have something to play for besides pride: to play spoiler, like ending the Blues’ historic win streak, which, if extended one more night, would be one of their greatest stretches of hockey all-time.
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