The St. Louis Blues are the NHL's best team at home. With a 20-3-3 record, the Blues set a franchise record by earning points in 14 straight home games.
In order to stay atop the NHL's standings and to win the Central Division, the Blues have to figure out a way to win on the road. So far, St. Louis is 8-9-3 away from home ice. That record is a middle-of-the-pack designation.
Luckily, the Blues have the rest of January to solve the problem. The team is playing well and will need to learn to keep up the stingy defense on the road. Goalkeepers Brian Elliott and Jaroslav Halak are combining to lead the NHL in goals against average.
The difficulty on the road this season has been twofold. First is that St. Louis isn't scoring enough goals. Second is the Blues can't seem to hold leads. Although lately the Blues have shown better results on the road, such as a 3-0 shutout of the Montreal Canadiens back on Jan. 10, that wasn't always the case against better competition.
The Detroit Red Wings serve as the most pertinent example. The Blues' Central Division rivals lost at the Scottrade Center on Dec. 6 by a 3-2 score. Later in the month, St. Louis lost in the motor city twice within a week by scores of 3-2 and then 3-0. In the 3-2 loss on Dec. 27, St. Louis had a 2-1 lead in the third period and couldn't hold it.
Perhaps it was the brutal schedule that week that led to the road losses. St. Louis played six games in 11 days in one stretch during the last two weeks of December. The next time such a drastic string of games happens like that is directly after the All-Star break. From Feb. 3 to Feb. 12, the Blues play six games in 10 days, three of them on the road. Another six-in-11 stretch happens in late February and early March. The schedule doesn't get easier until the middle of March.
If I were head coach Ken Hitchcock, I would amass as many wins at home as possible. That way, if the Blues can at least break even on the road, the playoffs are still a sure bet. Ideally, the Blues should be able to win a few more games here and there away from home ice since they have learned to play better hockey over the past three weeks of the NHL season.
Fans will find out very quickly in early February exactly where the Blues stand in terms of a possible playoff seed.
William Browning was born in St. Louis and has been a lifelong Blues fan.
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