Stastny Skates

The Blues are now leading the Wild 3-0. News outlets have been quick to point out the Blues are without former captain David Backes and powerplay igniting defender Kevin Shattenkirk. Both of whom are currently on new teams. The player no one is talking about who hasn’t skated in this series is Paul Stastny. Pauly Walnuts is head above the best center on this team. For a large part of Mike Yeo’s stint he centered Tarasenko and Schwartz. Schwartz has seen success this post season, but Tarasenko has yet to score a goal.

As of Tuesday, Paul Stastny has returned to the ice in practice. Mike Yeo is remaining tight lipped, stating his top center is still day to day. Stastny would likely return to his top line position whenever he is available. His return could be the shot in the arm that the Blues need to provide Jake Allen more goal support.

All reports coming from practice seem to say Stastny was a full go, and didn’t look to be slowed by his foot injury. Will the Blues give him extra time to recover and roll the dice on game 4 without him?

In other news:

Not only have the Blues jumped out to a 3-0 lead, so have the the Nashville Predators. If trends continue, we could be looking at home ice advantage in round 2. With both the Blues 1 game from a sweep, and the Hawks 1 game from getting swept, I turned to twitter to see which one Blues fans were more excited about.

I personally would like a scoop of ice cream on my pie.

Speaking of food how about some:
Food For Thought:

After making the WCF last season the Blues dismantled their roster. After losing stars like David Backes, Troy Brouwer, and Brian Elliott, fans knew it would be a new look and a harder road to the playoffs. At the trade deadline, the Blues were sellers. Trading Kevin Shattenkirk away seemed like it sealed this team to a fate of missing the playoffs, or going home very very early.

They then turned it around, and finished the season as one of the hottest teams. The Blues raced from out of playoff position, to finishing 3rd in the Central. Now they are 1 game away from sending one of the leagues best scoring teams home. Not to be guilty of looking forward, but if trends continue, our Blues would be facing Nashville, one of the teams we surpassed to get to 3rd place. That means the Blues will have home ice advantage, against a team who’s fanbase doesn’t travel as well as the Hawks.

So here is my question for you to chew on. After this roller coaster, what would make you consider this a successful season?

After trading away so much talent, is simply making the playoffs a success? Following our late season hot streak, is a second round ouster a failure? Is it cup or bust for you?

The expectations for this team has seen more highs and lows than possibly any other team in the league this season. Respond in the comments with your answer. What will make this season a success?