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Stars at Blues Preview: Dallas on the hunt for points

There’s nothing like playoff style hockey in February.

By hildymac
NHL: Dallas Stars at St. Louis Blues Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

Welcome, everyone, on behalf of Leap Day William, to the rarest day of them all. Every four years, the world gets a bonus day. Let’s follow the Ghost of Leap Years Past to see how the Blues have traditionally fared in recent history:

  • February 29th, 1996: the Blues and Canucks battle to a 2-2 tie, with St. Louis blowing a 2-0 lead. Those goals came from Al MacInnis and Wayne Gretzky.
  • February 29th, 2000: the Blues win, 3-2, against the Flyers. The goal scorers for St. Louis were Marty Reasoner, Bob Bassen, and Chris Pronger.
  • February 29th, 2004: the Blues fall 1-0 to the San Jose Sharks
  • February 29th, 2008: They get the year off
  • February 29th, 2012: Andy McDonald scores twice to give the Blues a 5-2 win over the Oilers
  • February 29th, 2016: They again get the year off.

For the first time in eight years, the Blues can ring the leap year in with style, and they’re doing it against the Dallas Stars. The Stars are six points behind the Blues in the division, so the Blues maybe can stop checking their rearview mirror for them for a while.

But just because it’s Leap Day doesn’t mean that real life is for March. The Blues still need to bank points. Their six game win streak is impressive, but the Colorado Avalanche have prevented the Blues from adding much space in the division. The Avs have gone on a five game streak of their own, so the Blues are only three points up right now, and Colorado has three games in hand on them.

The Stars are probably still sore about the Blues’ 5-1 drubbing last week, so don’t expect that kind of outcome again. But nothing is impossible on Leap Day, so perhaps we’ll get another dominant performance from the Blues while the Stars leave Ben Bishop out to dry.

Just because the Blues need to be worried about the Avalanche doesn’t mean that they can ignore the Stars. this is the last game that these two teams play this regular season against each other and it will be it for either Dallas or Colorado. The Blues need to tend their own garden first before looking at someone else shrubbery.

Leap Day magic is all around us. Hopefully it will be all around the Blues.