Canucks at Blues Preview: Will the Blues have another win hangover?

The Blues won a game Friday night, so plan the parade.

That may be the mindset of some of the guys after the Blues very difficult to come by wins this season. As Tom Timmermann so helpfully points out, the last three games right after the Blues’ last three well-played wins saw scores of 6-1, 8-4, and 4-0. Those were, of course, all awful losses of absolutely humiliating proportion that left fans scratching their heads. How can this team play so well and then turn around and play like a junior-mite team against the Detroit Red Wings?

According to Ryan O’Reilly, it’s a matter of finding consistency and staying on message. That’s easy to say when you’re one of the most consistent guys in the room, but it is true. But it’s only part of the issue - this is a team that does not handle confidence well, if at all. It’s gone from the pre-season hype train causing a derailing to a positive post-game write up in the Post-Dispatch causing one.

But David Perron and his penalties will probably be benched today, so that will alleviate some of the pressure on the PK (which has been one of the Blues’ bright spots this year), giving a little more free rein to the guys at even strength. This is key against the Canucks, because they are currently “worse than the Blues” terrible. After a strong start to the season, the Canucks not only fell off, they fell off of a cliff. They’re 2-10-2 in their last 14 games and this year they’re at 3.42 GA a game. Their penalty kill is clicking at a not impressive at all 75%.

If there was a team for the Blues to exploit right now it would be the Canucks.