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ST. PAUL, Minnesota • In light of recent events, these questions must be asked.
Will the Blues give up another goal? It's now three consecutive shutouts and 187 minutes, 16 seconds of goal-free hockey by the defense. This is the third longest segment in franchise history.
Will the Blues still hang out in a match? They have not done it since the third period against Florida on February 5, there are eight games.
And will the Blues lose again? Sunday's 4-0 win over Minnesota Wild at the Xcel Energy Center earned him 10 consecutive victories, equaling the franchise record set by Pavol Demitra's team, Keith Tkachuk, Chris Pronger and Al MacInnis. .. and the current assistant coach of Blues. Mike Van Ryn.
The answer to the above? Of course.
But for now, the Blues are simply playing at a higher level than everyone else. In the 10-game winning streak, they dominated the 40-14 opposition.
"These are all good things," said interim coach Craig Berube, who casts the superlatives as if it 's meant for sewer lids. "The players are doing a great job. They run and play hard to do the right things. "
OK fine. But 10 in a row? In the NHL led by parity?
"I've never really done such a show in a league where you can muster as many players," said defenseman Vince Dunn. "It's really unbelievable. Especially with three laps. It's an incredible feeling for us in the room. "
Speaking of these laps, the Blues have not chained three consecutive shutouts since the 2015-2016 season, while they had scored four in a row from March 19 to 26. Brian Elliott was in goal for the first of those three shutouts; Jake Allen had the fourth.
This time, after Allen stopped 32 shots in Saturday's 3-0 win in Colorado, Binnington stopped 31 Wild shots on Sunday. (Binnington was cleared in Arizona's 4-0 win on Thursday.)
It has been a defensive reversal since the first or first two months of the season.
"The defense is doing a great job," Bérubé said. "Big guys get in the way and good sticks. The attackers come back and do a good job. And the goalkeepers stop the pucks. This is everyone on the ice. It's not just one or two players. It's everyone who buys to do a good job. "
In spite of all these good actions, the Blues forced Binnington to preserve the shutout in the third period, whistling for three penalties. In addition, the period began with an additional penalty that extended from the end of the second period.
"Obviously, (Minnesota) had some penalties in the second, so we knew that there would probably be some calls (against us)," Binnington said. "We handled the situation well, we fought and I think we helped our PK numbers a bit."
It may be that the Blues have a little let go, with a 4-0 lead after two periods. Or a little referees trying to equalize things after giving the Blues all kinds of power games in the second period, including 2 minutes, 42 seconds of 5 against 3.
It was Robby Fabbri who made one of the biggest saves of the afternoon early in the third period when Charlie Coyle beat Binnington with an enveloping movement. But at the last moment, Fabbri managed to take his stick and prevent Coyle from trapping the puck in the opening of the net.
Suffice to say that Binnington was grateful for the bustle of Fabbri.
"I went to give it a shot," Binnington said. "All is love between us."
It's all love, all right, the sun and the roses for the blues nowadays.
At 31-22-5, the Blues are firmly installed in the third place of the central division. The "Separation Weekend" was a total success as the Blues swept the games against three teams in their pursuit in the West Conference. Arizona and Colorado are now 10 points from St. Louis; Minnesota (27-26-6) is now seven points behind.
"I think we had high expectations at the start (of the season) and it took us a while," Ryan O'Reilly said. "It was frustrating, but we persevered and kept fighting to win and stay on the hunt.
"We found our game and it's good. … We are still not satisfied. We want to continue climbing.
The only area that had struggled during the hot period was the power play. They were just two for 21 in power play in Sunday's winning streak, falling to 18th in the NHL with 18.2%.
But that changed in the first period. While Minnesota's Jordan Greenway was on the line for Oskar Sundqvist, Robert Thomas and Ryan O'Reilly allied to win a puck fight along the side panels.
O'Reilly sent a cross pass on the ice to Vladimir Tarasenko, who surprised Alex Stalock slipping on the end of the match and a wrist shot under the arm of Wild's goalkeeper to open the score at 5:08.
It was Tarasenko's 26th goal of the season, extending his career-best career series to 12 consecutive games and giving him 15 goals in his last 19 games.
"He's very good, as you can see," said Binnington, in a subtle stalemate. "It's fun to watch. I am happy to be on that side. All this line rolls.
Tarasenko then returned the favor, giving O'Reilly another power play goal with 30 seconds to go in the first period, making this game the first game since Nov. 28 against Detroit. The Blues scored two power play goals.
He did not stay long 2-0. In the second period, Dunn scored his eighth goal of the season and Brayden Schenn scored his eleventh to double the lead. And that was enough – more than enough – for the Blues to keep moving forward.
"I think it's fun to be a Blues fan these days," Binnington said.
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