COLUMN: Blues in a constant fight for the playoffs

Nobody who plays sports really believes in the concept of moral victories.

But in the NHL, getting a point in the standings just for forcing overtime is as close to a moral victory as one could get in professional sports.

The St. Louis Blues fell to the Boston Bruins 4-3 in overtime after Charlie McAvoy scored his second goal of the game 1:10 into the extra period.

With the overtime loss, the Blues (21-18-2) improved to 44 points in the standings, which puts them three points behind both Edmonton and Seattle, who are tied for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference with 47 points.

“Our goal here is to make the playoffs,” Blues head coach Drew Bannister said.

The Blues have spent all of January so far against teams who are currently in playoff position, collecting eight points (3-1-1) in five games.

“I think it’s good that we’re playing these teams because we’re being challenged,” Bannister said. “We need to be challenged. It needs to be hard for us. We took a step in the right direction here.

“We just got to continue to keep finding points,” he added. “There’s no room to breathe right now for us. Quite honestly, it could be like this for the rest of the year and we got to be comfortable with this.”

Prior to Saturday, the Blue topped both Vancouver and Carolina last week and went from giving up five goals against Florida this past Tuesday to scoring five goals against New York on Thursday.

“We’ve been getting points against some really good hockey teams,” said Blues center Oskar Sundqvist, who scored in the third period to effectively force overtime. “I feel like most of these top teams we’ve been really good at limiting their top players from greater scoring chances.”

In the middle of a stretch that pits the Blues with the upper tier of the Eastern Conference, the Bruins entered the Enterprise Center as the best from the other side of the Mississippi River. With 59 points, Boston (25-8-9) trails only Central-leading Winnipeg (60 points) and Pacific-leading Vancouver (61 points).

Every goal the Blues scored was in response to the Bruins getting ahead with either a goal from McAvoy, or the two goals from captain Brad Marchand, who scored his 900th career point. The first came from Boston native Kevin Hayes, who before Saturday, played the hometown Bruins 30 times during a 10-year career in the NHL, a majority of which was spent against the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers, and only scored six goals.

“We battled back,” Hayes said. “We were down, our power play was great tonight, got a point, but yeah, definitely a tough way to lose.”

__NHL’s favorite villain__

The mere mentioning of Marchand’s name prompted a tidal wave of boos that even drowned out the bunches of Boston fans in the stands. Opposing fans love to hate Marchand, and he welcomes it.

Even when he had to go to the penalty box in the second period, his face on the jumbotron prompted another round of boos. His penalty swiftly led to a power play goal by Blues’ forward Jake Neighbors to tie the game 2-2.

The 35-year-old Bruins forward has a reputation comparable to only NBA star agitator Draymond Green. He was voted as the player that opponents “least enjoy playing against but would like to have on their team” by the annual NHL Players Association (NHLPA) poll last year. The survey also had Marchand as both “Game’s Best Trash Talker” and “Game’s Worst Trash Talker” from 2018-20.

However, his 900th point is an added reminder of one of the greatest players in Bruins history. His first year as a starter led to the Bruins’ first Stanley Cup since 1972 and was a major factor in three conference championships and three of four Presidents’ Trophies for Boston.

__A rivalry between two cities__

There’s history between St. Louis and Boston, not just in hockey, but in all pro sports. Two of the St. Louis Cardinals’ four recent trips to the World Series were against the Boston Red Sox, losing in 2004 and 2013. The New England Patriots' two-decade-long dynasty started by befalling the St. Louis Rams, who were at the time dubbed “The Greatest Show on Turf” in 2001.

The Iconic Bobby Orr photo from the 1970 Stanley Cup Finals took place in St. Louis at the expense of the Blues, who were in their second year in the league and second finals appearance. The Blues got their revenge nearly 50 years later when they defeated the Bruins in seven games to win their first and only Stanley Cup in 2019.

__Up Next__

After taking on the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday, the Blues will face off against Washington on the road on Thursday, Jan. 18, and at home on Jan. 20.

“I think we’ve been winning a good amount of games,” Blues forward Kasperi Kapanen said. “We just got to play smart and I think maybe not make the perfect play sometimes, and just keep it simple.”