Blues at Kings Preview: Tonight’s the night?

The Blues just needed a California vacation to get things set right. They’re 4-0 on this trip, all one-goal wins. It hasn’t been pretty, but each game has had a lot to make fans happy - the scoring is clicking, the power play is back, and the goaltending has been solid. Husso was impressive last night in his start, considering how much scoring pressure the Kings had on him and the four power plays he faced.

A 3-2 win in overtime, thanks to a game tying goal from David “fuck it, I’m doing it myself” Perron (who scored the first goal, as well) and a winner from Mike Hoffman, probably will get the Kings focused on revenge tonight. That’s fine, because odds are good that the Blues have a secret weapon to deploy:

The Blues’ big guns have started firing on all cylinders and it couldn’t have started at a better time. The team is still the walking wounded, with key role players out for the foreseeable future as well as defenseman Colton Parayko and top-six forward Jaden Schwartz. Getting Tarasenko back at the exact time when players like Ryan O’Reilly, Brayden Schenn, Jordan Kyrou, Perron, and Hoffman are clicking should make the rest of the West Division very concerned.

The Blues have played more games than everyone save Anaheim in the division, and sit in second place with 30 points in 24 games. As other teams make up dates and catch up, the Blues are going to have to find a way to string together wins regardless of who is on the IR. Having Tarasenko be one of the healthy ones instead of one of the ranks of the injured will help them maintain their playoff positioning as the season stretches into the second half. Evening up their season series against the Kings is as good as any places to start.