The Blues are one of two teams eligible to clinch a playoff spot tonight. They and the Oilers can book their ticket to the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs if the Flames lose to the Sharks in regulation. St. Louis will need to hold up their end of the bargain by defeating the Jets in regulation to wake up tomorrow morning with an “X” next to their name in the standings. Doing so would mark their 13th straight win, the longest winning streak since Edmonton won 16 straight last year between Dec. 21 and Jan. 27. The Blues haven’t lost since a 5-3 defeat at the hands of the Penguins on March 13. They’re now 34-16-6 since replacing Drew Bannister with Jim Montgomery behind the bench in November and are two points ahead of the Wild for the first wild card in the Western Conference. Both St. Louis and Minnesota have four games remaining. The Blues have a 64% chance of holding onto the WC1 spot, a 33% chance of falling back behind the Wild and finishing in the WC2 slot, and a 1% chance of lapping the Avalanche for third place in the Central, per MoneyPuck. Their streak has been fueled by top-line center Robert Thomas, who leads the league in scoring since March 15 with 4-19–23 in 12 games.
More from the Central Division:
- Utah has recalled winger Kailer Yamamoto from AHL Tucson after papering him down to the minors yesterday. The 26-year-old righty has a goal and an assist in five games since being recalled from Tucson on March 26, his first time on the NHL roster since clearing waivers early in the year. The 2017 first-round pick signed a rich two-way deal with Utah at the end of training camp following a successful professional tryout, although he’s spent most of the year in the minors for the first time since the 2019-20 campaign. While he only has those two points to show for eight NHL appearances this year, he’s Tucson’s leading scorer with 19-34–53 in 52 games with a +14 rating. He’s recently seen time in a second-line role with Barrett Hayton and Nick Schmaltz and will presumably return there when Utah hosts the Kraken tomorrow.
- Despite iffy boxcar stats this season, the Blackhawks are pleased with how 2022 No. 7 overall pick Kevin Korchinski has developed in 2024-25. “We forget how young he is,” Blackhawks interim coach Anders Sörensen told Mark Lazerus of The Athletic. “His development curve this year overall has been a positive one, and it’s going up.” Korchinski highlighted his own defensive improvement – a must this season, considering his lack of offensive production. The 20-year-old lefty is a passer first and foremost and was dominant offensively in juniors, but he has no points to speak of in 13 NHL games this season and has been underwhelming with AHL Rockford with 3-24–27 in 54 games.
Wonder if the Bruins would like a mulligan on that coaching change.
No take backs!
Korchinski just needs to play and he needs to get a little stronger. He loses battles in front of the net at times and needs to use his stick a little better. Rinzel is already very good with his stick defensively. Bedard and Korchinski are both 20 and people are calling for them to be traded? Craziest crap I’ve ever heard. I know Pro Sports is What have you done for me lately but C’mon, Get serious.
The Blues won 12 in a row, then lost three in a row , then won tonight to clinch WC2.