Kraken at Blues preview: Release the offense

With a dominant 5-1 win over the Arizona Coyotes, Blues fans can continue to rest easy that there’s nothing wrong with the team’s offense (unless you’re Jordan Kyrou right now, but I digress). Scoring by committee has been an excellent plan - the team now has seven 20 goal scorers, the most in the NHL. Vladimir Tarasenko’s two goal game solidified his spot at the top of the Blues’ scoring, with 25 on the season now, eclipsing Kyrou for the team lead.

The Blues have another chance to pad their goal totals tonight against the Seattle Kraken. The Kraken sit second to last in the Western Conference, sandwiched between Arizona and the Chicago Blackhawks. Their -60 goal differential is sixth-worse in the NHL, and second worst in the West. They’re 5-4-1 in their last ten, and took down the Dallas Stars 4-1 on Sunday, so they’ve got some punch even though they’re not making the playoffs this year. Spoiler is a tag they’d like to wear well after failing to re-create the magic of the Vegas Golden Knights in their first year.

The Blues are 2-0 against the Kraken this season, with Ville Husso winning both starts. The Blues took game one by a score of 2-1 back on January 13th, and on the 21st beat the Kraken in Seattle by a score of 5-0. Despite that, this is still a team that they need to take seriously. In the Central Division right now, they have to take every team seriously if they want to make the postseason.