Blues '20' Club continues to grow, setting bar in NHL this season

Balance of offense has fueled what team has been able to do this season; 

willingness to share wealth makes team an unpredictable, challenging matchup 

By LOU KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- When Brayden Schenn quickly fired home a power-play goal Monday in a 5-1 win against the Arizona Coyotes, he joined the '20' Club, becoming the seventh member.

(St. Louis Blues/Scott Rovak)

Vladimir Tarasenko leads the Blues with 25 goals this season and is part of

St. Louis' NHL-leading seven skaters with 20 goals or more.

Schenn's 20th goal for the Blues this season put him in a group with Vladimir Tarasenko (25), Pavel Buchnevich (24), David Perron (23), Jordan Kyrou (23), Ivan Barbashev (22) and Brandon Saad (20). It's their most since having an astounding 10 players in 1980-81, led by Wayne Babych (54), Jorgen Pettersson (37), Brian Sutter (35), Perry Turnbull (34), Bernie Federko (31), Mike Zuke (24), Tony Currie (23), Larry Patey (22), Blake Dunlop (20) and Blair Chapman (20). 

The Blues (40-20-10) lead the NHL in the fraternity of 20-goal scorers, with the Florida Panthers and Minnesota Wild each with six nipping at their heels (Colorado has five with two skaters at 19 goals), and as much as players and coaches have touted how deep the forward group is all season long, and everyone knows how talk is cheap unless one can back it up, the Blues have certainly backed it up. It's quite the testament and visual proof that there indeed is this balance of scoring, and players are more than willing to share and spread the wealth.

"It's huge for our team to be honest," said Barbashev, who has set career highs in goals, assists (27) and points (49). "We've had some ups and downs this season, but to see that many players score some goals, especially to go above 20 ... it doesn't surprise me because we've got a lot of really good players that can score some goals and make some plays, but it's actually really good to see from our team."

The Blues are fifth in the NHL averaging 3.69 goals-per-game, behind Florida (4.16), Toronto (3.83), Colorado (3.79) and Minnesota (3.61), but each of those teams has at least one 30-goal scorer. Toronto in fact has two, including Auston Matthews, who has 54, and Minnesota has Kirill Kaprizov with 40.

Some of those teams are reliant, heavily at times, to be those producers of offense, which could be a detriment with as much ice time as those players command and play throughout the course of a season and could take its toll in heavily-played playoff series.

The Blues don't mind sharing and spreading the wealth.

"I just think that everyone's involved, we don't rely on one guy, guys are going to go through spurts, guys are going to get hot at different times of the year and that's what you need as a team," Schenn said. "Ultimately that's what you need in the playoffs. You need scoring from everyone. You can't just rely on one guy and I think that's a little bit of everything. That's us kind of playing two power-play units, lots of guys getting a chance whether it's 3-on-3, 4-on-4 and different certain situations and guys just capitalizing. That's all it boils down to. We kind of knew coming into this year that we have a lot of guys that are capable of scoring goals and it's nice to see everyone getting rewarded."

The Blues haven't had a 30-goal scorer since Tarasenko scored 33 in their Stanley Cup-winning season of 2018-19, but of course, in each of the past two seasons, the 82-game schedule was cut short. That hasn't instilled some sort of mindset that any one or two particular guys have to get the puck.

In fact this season, Tarasenko does lead them with 194 shots on goal, but Buchnevich (176) isn't far behind. Kyrou (152), Perron (145) and Saad (129) have been pretty balanced themselves and get their opportunities. Barbashev and Schenn (96 each) have been pretty accurate when given the chance.

"We’re built that way and I think we all know that," coach Craig Berube said. "We're the sum of our parts. We need everybody to contribute, need everybody to play the right way, and it's a rewarding feeling for me to see the balance that we have and when I look at it like that, it looks like for me, it's a team and it's guys are putting the team first, in my opinion. That's what I like the way I like to view it. So it's rewarding that way for me personally."

So, picture what seven guys capable of scoring 20 or more can do to the opposition as far as game preparation. How does one handle that?

"Well, I think the team on the other side's got to look at our lineup and go, 'Who are we going to match up tonight against,'" Berube said. "Our checking line and our shutdown D. It's not like you have three pairs of shutdown D.

"So I think it makes it difficult that way. I think someone on our team, night in and night out, and it depends on the line is going to get a nice matchup."

Take into consideration that the last three Stanley Cup champs, including the Blues, didn't come close to having such balanced scoring. The Tampa Bay Lightning last season had seven double-digit scorers in a 56-game season and had four guys reach 20 or more in 2019-20, and the Blues had only three (Tarasenko, O'Reilly, 28; Perron, 23).

Could this serve as a precursor to perhaps having a successful playoff season when it hasn't exactly been air-tight defensively? It certainly makes the matchups more difficult, especially on home ice. 

(St. Louis Blues/Scott Rovak)

Newcomer Brandon Saad (left) is one of seven Blues to reach the 20-goal

mark this season, which is tops in the NHL for one team.

"I think that's just how this organization's been built," defenseman Robert Bortuzzo said. "Maybe not to this extent where it's almost so even through the whole forward group, but we're a group that's the sum of its parts and we always have been here. I think we like it that way. To have that kind of depth up front is a luxury. Guys can come in and out, guys can PK and play on the power play, just have a bunch of guys that can play in all situations. To have guys that can bury the puck like that is huge for our group. Down the stretch, everyone knows what depth means and we're in the thick of things here. There's a bunch of guys that have stepped up and our leaders have been great lately. It's a luxury as a d-corps to have a group of forwards that are so deep.

"... I've lived it here for eight years and it's worked for us. We've had a lot of success getting into the playoffs. Teams are going to do what they do. I appreciate how we're built here. The sum of our parts and depth and guys working for each other and culture and what not. Who's to say what's better? You look at the teams that win, there's a lot of depth at the end of the day. Personally I think that's what it takes."