Even though they are playing without eight regulars from their lineup at the moment, the St. Louis Blues are still doing their best to stack some wins together.
Their 3-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday night was their third in a row and helps them keep pace with the top teams in the West Division.
It was their power play and special teams that made the difference in this one as they scored three goals with the man-advantage (on only three power play opportunities) and were a perfect three-for-three on the penalty kill. Oskar Sundqvist, Brayden Schenn and Zach Sanford provided the offense, while Jordan Binnington stopped 27 out of 29 shots to get the win.
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Rickard Rakell scored with just 8.7 seconds left for the Ducks to bring the score a little closer, but it ended up being too little and way too late.
The Ducks have now lost eight in a row and nine of their past 10 games as they continue to sit at the bottom of the division.
No matter the opponent or where they are in the standings, these are still huge points for a Blues team that is playing without several of its top players, including Vladimir Tarasenko, Jaden Schwartz, Colton Parayko, and Robert Thomas. On the rare occasion they have actually been healthy this season they have looked like the Stanley Cup contender we have come to expect them to be. The defensive play is still there and they still have some offensive talent in the lineup to score enough goals to win. It is just going to be a matter of treading water long enough in some of these games until help arrives.
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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.