Last year, and earlier this season, any team could look at the St. Louis Blues as a beatable hockey club. If a team was mired in a losing streak, and the Blues was the next team on the schedule, then it could be quite possible to get out of that slump by getting a win against an ailing franchise.

That has all changed.

The team that has kept pace with the Phoenix Coyotes in terms of streaks has been the St. Louis Blues. In their last twelve games, the Blues have been 9-2-1 and with a wild back-and-forth game they had against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday, they now look for ways to win games instead of fearing to lose them. The Coyotes have had an 8-3-1 record in the same stretch. However, the Blues have won three in row and four of their last five, and the Coyotes have lost two in a row and three of their last five. The Blues are on a roll.

The St. Louis Blues missed the playoffs for the fourth time in franchise history breaking a streak that spanned from 1980 to 2004 – it was the second longest active in pro sports. After finishing with the worst record in 27 years last season, and having a terrible start to the current season, head coach Andy Murray has begun to turn the team around.

They, like the Coyotes, are flirting with a playoff position; therefore, the game on Monday becomes more important for both franchises. Both teams are struggling for validation that they have finally turned the corner of underachieving failures into respectability within the NHL. Each group has something to fight for.

Most likely, the atmosphere in the arena should resemble a playoff game as the two available points are necessary for both clubs. If the Coyotes want to climb over teams to slide into that eighth spot in the conference, these conference games become just as important as their divisional ones.

Original post by PB and software by Elliott Back

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