Five reasons for the Blues’ turnaround: Binnington, line combinations and more (original) (raw)

DENVER — For the second time this season, the Blues have a three-game winning streak.

It began with a 5-3 win over the Sharks, and within 48 hours, they have now won 3-2 over both the Golden Knights, one of the NHL’s top teams this season, and the Avalanche, the defending Stanley Cup champions.

We all know what happened the last time the Blues won three straight, though. They followed that streak with eight losses in a row, a stretch during which general manager Doug Armstrong addressed the club and discussed the repercussions if the young season didn’t turn around.

It didn’t happen immediately — the Blues dropped three more games — but now something seems to be shifting. There are a variety of potential reasons. Let’s look at five of the big ones.

1. Jordan Binnington on ‘another level’

It’s hard to believe, but Jordan Binnington’s save percentage this season is sitting at a meager .904. That’s what happens when a team goes through an extended losing streak and, mainly because of the players in front of the goalie, springs a leak for 38 goals in eight games.

“He’s always been good, right from the first game, and we weren’t helping him too much,” Blues forward Robert Thomas said. “But I think the last three games especially, he’s taken it to another level, and it’s given us a lot of confidence in front of him.”

In the past three wins, Binnington is 3-0 with a 2.33 goals-against average and a .933 save percentage. In his six wins this season, it’s a 1.82 GAA with a .944 save percentage.

“It’s unbelievable,” Blues defenseman Colton Parayko said. “He’s made some really incredible saves. He’s kept us in every single game this year, and now it’s just we’re on the winning side of it. It’s been a lot of fun to watch it. He’s a true competitor that just continues to build.”

JORDAN BINNINGTON MY GOODNESS. #stlblues pic.twitter.com/Hw6J3oBWkp

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) November 15, 2022

2. Finding chemistry in the line combinations

Ryan O’Reilly suddenly looks like a new player, Jordan Kyrou is scoring again, and welcome back, Brandon Saad.

Ever since the Blues rearranged their line combinations last Thursday, there seems to be a lot more chemistry and players seem to be settling in.

“I agree, it’s going well for sure,” Blues coach Craig Berube said. “I like the lines now. Chemistry has been good.”

The player who’s had the biggest turnaround is O’Reilly. After scoring just two points in the first 12 games of the season, he has three in the past two. The numbers have gone up since the addition to the line of Josh Leivo, who works well down low, and Saad, who’s back from an upper-body injury and on a three-game scoring streak.

“It’s nice to be back and contributing and winning hockey games,” Saad said. “I’ve got some lucky bounces, but I think our line has been playing well with puck possession and playing below the goal line and making good plays, and I think we’re doing a good job of sticking with it. Right now, we’re feeling pretty good, so I think they’ve done a good job of pairing us together.”

The fourth line, which is centered by Noel Acciari but has seen changes with Nikita Alexandrov and Tyler Pitlick on the wings, is finishing checks and creating momentum for the other lines.

“Acciari’s line had some great shifts down low (against Colorado), just working them, hard hockey,” Berube said.

In their eight-game losing streak, the Blues scored a total of 12 goals. In their three recent wins, they have 11. A total of 15 players have accounted for 29 points in the stretch, with five defensemen accounting for seven of those.

“We’re just trying to get guys toward the net,” Parayko said. “The big thing is just converging toward the net, getting guys inside the house. I think we’re doing a good job of finding plays and getting pucks to the net, making it hard for the goalie to see things and for their defense to have the puck. We cycle, we hold pucks a lot in the offensive zone and we wait for opportunities. We’ve been doing that, and it’s been working well.”

3. Bending, not breaking

When things were at their worst, the Blues were giving up goals in clusters. The main reason for that seemed to be a lack of effort, but they were also putting their heads down as soon as an opponent scored, which resulted in even more goals against.

There were seven games in which the Blues gave up two even-strength goals within a span of 3:05 and four others when they gave up three even-strength goals in a span of 10:04.

Here's a look at the clusters of EVEN-STRENGTH goals given up by Blues this year:

CBJ: 2G (0:18)
SEA: 2G (3:05)
NSH: 3G (5:24)
MTL: 2G (0:40)
LA: 3G (6:15)
NYI: 3G (10:04)
PHI: 3G (9:46)

Again this is even-strength goals only. There were PP goals scored in those stretches too.

— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) November 9, 2022

But in the past three games, the team has given up three goals just once and two goals twice and has won each game by one goal.

“It’s competitiveness for me,” Berube said. “We’re winning a ton of puck battles out there. I thought that we did a really good job defensively (against Colorado), protecting the middle of the ice. They scored (to cut the Blues’ lead to 3-2), and I think we held our ground. We got some real good shifts out of guys competing down low in the offensive zone, killing time and doing some good things down there.”

This comes on the heels of the Blues holding down the fort against Vegas after the Golden Knights made it a 3-2 game in the third period, and against San Jose, too, when the Sharks erased three one-goal leads and yet St. Louis still prevailed.

“Yeah, that’s another really good thing that’s been part of our game,” Parayko said. “There’s been periods where we give up a few goals, but I think now we’ve just said, ‘Let that go,’ and we bring on our new mojo and don’t let it faze us.”

4. Not overworking the PK

With the exception of the final two minutes of Monday’s win over Colorado, the Blues have been limiting the number of penalties they’ve taken, which keeps the pressure off the penalty-killing unit.

You may recall that in the first three games of the season, the team took just six penalties and didn’t allow a power-play goal. But in the Blues’ eight-game losing streak, they took a combined 26 penalties, and the unit allowed seven PP goals on 20 opportunities (65 percent).

Well, the Blues didn’t take a single penalty in their back-to-back wins over San Jose and Vegas, and though they were whistled for five against Colorado, three of those came in the third period and one was a delay of game on Pavel Buchnevich for hitting the puck into the stands. That gave the Avs, who have the best unit in the NHL (39 percent), a five-on-three power play for 1:43 that turned into a six-on-three when they pulled their goalie for another attacker.

“It’s unfortunate with Buchy,” Berube said. “But guys battled and did a good job. (Binnington) made a big save there (on Colorado’s Cale Makar), and guys laid it on the line. The PK did a great job.”

Parayko, O’Reilly and Niko Mikkola, along with Binnington in net, closed out the win.

“It was definitely intense, that’s for sure,” Parayko said.

5. Getting some puck luck

You can call it excuse-making or whatever you want, but “puck luck” is real. No one is saying the Blues deserved to win any of the eight consecutive games they dropped, but some of the bounces certainly weren’t going their way.

“I think we had a bunch of goals go in off our own players earlier on in one-goal games,” Parayko said.

But not lately.

On Monday, Thomas’ breakaway goal hit the glove of the Avs’ goalie, then the crossbar, then the goalie again before going in for a 1-1 score.

“I got it where I wanted to — up top on the right side — and yeah, just got a good bounce,” Thomas said. “I think it comes with hard work and playing the right way. That’s when you get rewarded with a couple of bounces.”

Later, Saad handed the Blues a 2-1 lead when his passing attempt to Leivo went off the skate of Makar and into the net.

“I was trying to go back door to Leivo there and just got a bounce,” Saad said. “I was trying to make a quick play, and it was just a fortunate bounce. I kind of saw it trickling around, and I was waiting and waiting, and then the guys started celebrating.”

And after holding on, the Blues were celebrating, though not too much because they know what can happen. But it’s fair to say their confidence is building.

“It’s going to grow,” Berube said. “When you win hockey games, players feel more confident, feel better about themselves, and they’re going to play a little more free.”

(Photo: Ron Chenoy / USA Today)

Jeremy Rutherford is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the St. Louis Blues. He has covered the team since the 2005-06 season, including a dozen years at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He is the author of "Bernie Federko: My Blues Note" and "100 Things Blues Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die." In addition, he is the Blues Insider for 101 ESPN in St. Louis. Follow Jeremy on Twitter @jprutherford