GDT #81: Blues vs Kraken | 12:00 pm CT | TNT/Max, 101 ESPN

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BLUES On Oct. 11, St. Louis Blues General Manager Doug Armstrong shared his expectations for the 2023-24 season. He broke the Central Division into three tiers: the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche at the top, and the Chicago Blackhawks and Arizona Coyotes at the bottom.

“I don’t see us in that group of players starting out, hoping to get the first overall pick,” he said. “That’s not what we’re looking at…If you break the (Central Division) into thirds, I hope to be competitive with that middle third, and I hope to be at the top end of that middle third.”

For the most part, he was spot on.

Despite a tumultuous first half — which included a head coaching change, injuries and the league’s worst power play — his team bounced back to put itself in playoff contention. However, it ultimately wasn’t enough. The Blues were eliminated from playoff contention Friday by a 5-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.

Without Justin Faulk, Torey Krug and Jake Neighbours, the Blues were already fighting an uphill battle against one of the NHL’s top squads.

“Certainly I can’t fault the effort,” Blues coach Drew Bannister said after the game. “I think the effort was there from our group here tonight. We made three mistakes on the first three goals, and they made us pay. That’s what good hockey teams do.”

The Blues took the lead twice on goals from Zack Bolduc and Jordan Kyrou, but the Hurricanes responded every time. Carolina took its first lead with 12:07 left, and a couple empty-net goals from Jake Guentzel would seal the Blues' fate.

After the game, Bannister was blunt in his assessment of the season.

"It's been a lot of ups and downs," he said. "We've found ways to fight our way back into the playoff picture numerous times here over the last two months. A lot of it was on us. There was times where we didn't play good hockey, and consistently we were able to get ourselves back into it, but I think if you want to be a playoff team, you have to consistently play good hockey."

The Blues will end their season the same way it started. After a road game in Dallas, the Blues hosted Seattle for the home opener. Now, after Sunday's home finale, the Blues will end their season against the Stars on Wednesday.

KRAKEN The magic that let the Seattle Kraken not only reach the playoffs but upset top-seeded Colorado in their second season seems to have worn off. They're 33-33-13, sitting at the No. 11 seed in the Western Conference.

Part of the reason for Seattle's drop-off has been its offense. The Kraken are bottom four in both shooting percentage (9.0%) and goals per game (2.61). The Kraken don't have a bonafide star yet, and that's severely impacted their scoring. Their leading scorer, Jared McCann, has 60 points this season. Only four teams have a leading scorer with fewer points: the Anaheim Ducks, Buffalo Sabres, Columbus Blue Jackets and San Jose Sharks. Chicago Blackhawks forward Connor Bedard also has 60.

The Kraken have had trouble scoring all year, but it's been especially true in their last two games. They'll come to Enterprise Center the day after losing 3-1 in Dallas. The Kraken went 0-for-3 on the power play, and it took them until 5:49 left in the third period to get one past Stars goalie Jake Oettinger.

They also lost 3-1 on Thursday, that time to the Sharks. Then, rookie goalie Devin Cooley stopped 49 of 50 Seattle shots. Over the San Jose and Dallas games, the Kraken have been converting on just 2.6% of their shots.

Seattle has been out of playoff contention for a while, and now they're ending season No. 3 with a four-game road trip through the Central Division. St. Louis is the second stop; they end with Winnipeg on Tuesday and Minnesota on Thursday.

HEAD TO HEAD This is the third and final meeting between the Blues and Kraken this season. The Blues took both meetings in extra time. On Oct. 14, Robert Thomas scored the lone shootout goal in a 2-1 win. On Jan. 26, Pavel Buchnevich scored the overtime winner that gave us his iconic paddle celly.

PLAYERS TO WATCH
BLUES Jordan Kyrou kept up his hot play down the stretch Friday, scoring his 30th goal of the season against Carolina. Kyrou has nine goals and seven assists in his last 11 games.

KRAKEN He's gone scoreless the last two games, but Oliver Bjorkstrand has led the Kraken in points over their last seven. Bjorkstrand has seven points — including six assists — in that span.

BLUE NOTES
Since the Kraken entered the NHL in 2021-22, the Blues are 6-2-0 against them.

The Blues are 15-5-3 against the Pacific Division this season, with Sunday vs. Seattle being their last game against the Pacific this season.

The Blues are 6-0-0 on Sunday games this season, which is the most wins without a loss on Sunday this season, and it shares the third-most Sunday wins in the NHL. The New York Rangers lead the league with eight.

Since the start of March, the Blues are 7-3-1 at home.

Friday vs. Carolina was the fourth time all season where the Blues lost in regulation after scoring first. They're now 33-4-1 in those situations.

The Blues are 10-4-2 in their last 16 games (since March 11) and are 21-13-3 in their last 37 games (since Jan. 20).

Pavel Buchnevich has a five-game point streak (one goal, four assists) and 14 points in his last 13 games (three goals, 11 assists).

Jordan Kyrou is the first Blue to post back-to-back 30 goal seasons since Vladimir Tarasenko scored 30+ goals in five straight seasons from 2014-15 to 2018-19.