{"id":460292,"date":"2025-01-07T15:34:53","date_gmt":"2025-01-07T20:34:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=460292"},"modified":"2025-01-07T15:34:53","modified_gmt":"2025-01-07T20:34:53","slug":"remainder-of-january-can-make-or-break-st-louis-blues-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/01\/07\/remainder-of-january-can-make-or-break-st-louis-blues-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Remainder of January Can Make or Break St. Louis Blues Season"},"content":{"rendered":"

The <\/span>St. Louis Blues<\/span><\/a> are in the middle of the Western Conference playoff race. Despite being in a retool, the Blues are fighting to make the playoffs for the first time since the 2021-22 season. The team is currently 19-18-4 with 42 points. As of today, the Blues are just three points out of the final wild card spot. Playoff hopes are very much alive in St. Louis. However, the remainder of January can make or break the Blues season.<\/span><\/p>\n

January Can Make or Break the Blues Season<\/span><\/h3>\n

The Blues have 11 games left in January. That means <\/span>22<\/span> points are on the line for the team before the month ends. An 11-game winning streak would be nice, and it certainly <\/span>helped the Blues in 2019<\/span><\/a>. However, while an 11-game win streak may not be realistic, the idea that this stretch of games can make or break the season is very realistic.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nine of the 11 remaining January games are against teams with winning records. In addition, the Blues are only playing teams from the Western Conference. As a result, the\u00a0<\/span>Blue Note\u00a0<\/span><\/em>have an opportunity to make up ground quickly. Conversely, this means the Blues could fall further behind if they struggle during this stretch.<\/span><\/p>\n

Do not Overlook the Sub-.500 Teams<\/span><\/h3>\n

Teams with losing records can be just as, if not more, dangerous than teams with winning records. <\/span>The Blues know this firsthand<\/span><\/a> from their games with the lowly <\/span>San Jose Sharks<\/span><\/a> last season. <\/span>The Blues already know the <\/span>Columbus Blue Jackets<\/span><\/a> are a threat. <\/span>The Jackets defeated the Blues<\/span><\/a> this past weekend, scoring six goals in the win. The Blues will get their rematch with the Blue Jackets this Saturday on home ice.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Anaheim Ducks are the other under sub-.500 team the Blues will play in January. The two teams have not yet met this season. However, the Blues have won their last seven games against the Ducks.<\/span><\/p>\n

Two Opponents, Four Times, Five Games<\/span><\/h3>\n

The Blues will see the Calgary Flames in back-to-back games <\/span>on January 14th and January 16th<\/span>. It is not often you play the same team, in the same arena, back-to-back, except for the <\/span>2021 season<\/span><\/a>. As it is, the Blues and Flames will meet twice in three days. <\/span>The Flames,<\/span> like the Blues, are outside the Western Conference playoffs, <\/span>butt<\/span> like the Blues again, they are right in the mix of things.<\/span> This<\/span> will be a two-game battle between teams trying to snag one of the final playoff spots. These two games in January could be the difference when the regular season ends in April.<\/span><\/p>\n

Alas, the Blues will not be done seeing the same team twice. After a quick stop in Utah, the Blues head to Nevada for <\/span>a set of<\/span> back-to-back games with the <\/span>Vegas Golden Knights<\/span><\/a>. The Knights currently lead the Pacific Division with a 27-9-3 record. The Golden Knights have their eyes set on another Stanley Cup, which means these two games will not be easy for the Blues. If there is a bright side, the Blues <\/span>do<\/span> get two days off after the first game before hosting the Knights for the second game.<\/span><\/p>\n

Two of the Last Three January Blues Games Against Current Wild Card Teams<\/span><\/h3>\n

The Blues will end January with a chance to make up ground against teams directly ahead of them in the standings. As of now, the <\/span>Dallas Stars<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Vancouver Canucks<\/span><\/a> hold the two Western Conference wild card spots. As of now, the Blues trail the Stars by seven points and the Canucks by three points. The point totals and teams could change between now and those games, but the Blues should still be within striking distance.<\/span><\/p>\n

11 Games; 22 Points<\/span><\/h3>\n

By the time February 1st comes, the Blues will be in one of three positions:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The Blues will be holding a playoff spot.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. The Blues will be in a similar boat and still in a spot to compete for the playoffs.<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. The Blues will fall further behind in the <\/span>standings,<\/span> and<\/span> possibly too far out to make a realistic push.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The best way to make up ground is to win against the teams right next to you in the standings. The Blues have that opportunity in these next 11 games. If the Blues make the playoffs, we can <\/span>go back<\/span> to this month and pinpoint it as the difference-maker. The same can be said if they are on the outside looking in the playoff picture.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Main Photo Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The St. Louis Blues are in the middle of the Western Conference playoff race. Despite being in a retool, the Blues are fighting to make the playoffs for the first time since the 2021-22 season. The team is currently 19-18-4 with 42 points. As of today, the Blues are just three points out of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3464,"featured_media":448510,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32,4547,4548],"tags":[5865],"class_list":["post-460292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blues","category-hockey","category-nhl","tag-st-louis-blues-analysis"],"modified_by":"Levi Pike, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3464"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=460292"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":460314,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460292\/revisions\/460314"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/448510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=460292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=460292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}