Mike Yeo Has Turned the St. Louis Blues Around
It’s that time of the season where you check the standings almost every day to check out the playoff picture. And so far Mike Yeo has Blues fans looking forward to another playoff appearance.
Mike Yeo has the St. Louis Blues on a four-game winning streak, their first such streak this season. Yeo has clearly been a huge factor in all of these games for St. Louis.
For example, the Blues are getting a lot more pucks to the net than before his promotion. They are cycling well and playing more of a possession game, which has led to more shots and scoring opportunities. His defensive philosophy is also shining through, as the Blues’ play in their own zone has improved dramatically. They proved it by blocking a season-high 24 shots Saturday night in Montreal.
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And because of these improvements, the Blues have only lost one game since Yeo took over. That was against the defending-champion Pittsburgh Penguins on February 4th.
In that Pittsburgh game, the Blues were unable to finish a lot of their shots. They registered just four shots on goal in the entire first period and 23 shots overall. Compare this to the 40 shot game against Toronto on Thursday night, and you can see how much of a difference taking advantage of every opportunity can make.
On Saturday night, the Blues only recorded 22 shots on goal against the Montreal Canadiens but won 4-1. Perhaps this outlier was due to facing the backup netminder in Al Montoya. It may have also been the three goals from Patrik Berglund, two of which were on well-timed deflections. These tips helped Berglund get his first career hat trick.
Mike Yeo has made this team look a lot different than they did under Ken Hitchcock a few weeks ago. This is very good news for Blues fans hoping for another postseason appearance.
Maybe those big coaching changes were just what the Blues needed all along. Maybe it was detrimental to the players to have a coach they knew was gone soon regardless.
When the Blues lost young star Robby Fabbri to a torn ACL in that Pittsburgh game, it seemed as if the Blues season would swing downwards. But Yeo has this team playing the role of Road Warrior and the loss of Fabbri has been temporarily forgotten.
With the loss of Fabbri, the Blues called up Magnus Paajarvi and Kenny Agostino from the Chicago Wolves. It has seemed to work so far, with Agostino scoring a goal in his first NHL game, and Paajarvi able to grab some points for himself. Yeo has the new additions working hard to keep their spots in the lineup and the Blues afloat, Ivan Barbashev included.
So, Mike Yeo seems to have turned the Blues around so far. Hopefully, they can ride the momentum and play this well against some Western Conference teams to keep a firm grip on their playoff spot.
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