Blues at Coyotes preview: Farewell Glendale

You’ve probably heard that this season is the last for the Arizona Coyotes in their long-time home, the Gila River Arena. Their lease with the city of Glendale is over, and thanks to the team being one of the least stable tenants in the NHL, they’re having to move to Arizona State University’s 5000 seat arena.

While absolutely not a knock on ASU’s excellent Sun Devil hockey program (or the fact that a hockey team in Arizona has a 5000 seat arena, which is in and of itself impressive), this is the most absurd story in a very absurd league. The Coyotes are trying to wring every last dime out of the seats in new location - there are fewer available, and presumably fewer filled. But wow.

That is a tough sell for a team who will be finishing last in the Central Division by a very wide margin. No other team in the NHL has lost 50 games.

The Blues will have to get used to the smaller confines when they visit next season. For tonight, they just have to get through the Clayton Keller-less Coyotes who are playing out the stretch. They’re not that rested from their 2-0 loss to the Capitals, and any team on a losing streak this long shouldn’t be an issue. They haven’t won a game since April 3rd, going 0-8-1 since then. The Blues’ point streak is up to 14 games after their victory over the San Jose Sharks on Thursday evening, though they’re two points behind the Wild for home ice with four games to play.

Also rolling is, of course, Robert Thomas. Thomas’ point streak bests the Blues’ streak by a game, tying him with Pierre Turgeon for the longest scoring streak since 2000. The rest of his line isn’t exactly flagging either. Pavel Buchnevich is on a 12 game streak, and Vladimir Tarasenko is riding an eight game streak. It would also be remiss to not point out that Jordan Binnington’s on a four game win streak of his own, regaining form as the Blues wrap the season up.

Good timing.