When a team is playing really poorly, it sometimes can turn things around by the performance of one player.
For the St. Louis Blues lately, that one player is goalie Jordan Binnington.
He has sparkled in the team's recent surge with a marvelous 9-1-1 record totaling a 1.72 goals against average an amazing .931 save percentage.
The Blues are on fire
Since the beginning of 2019, the Blues have shown to be the team many (including this writer) had predicted they would be. They are now 12-4-1 since the calendar turned to a new year and playing their best hockey by far.
Who is this guy?
Binnington was playing in the AHL's San Antonio Rampage when he got the call to the NHL. When the Blues placed former backup goalie Chad Johnson on waivers in December and the Anaheim Ducks claimed him they needed a backup netminder.
Enter Jordan Binnington.
Head coach Craig Berube had this to say about his team's excellent play.
It's about playing the game. I think our team's really come together as a unit and that's huge. Goaltending, guys playing together, scoring goals, being a really good five-on-five team. There's a lot of things that have to go into it."
The Blues had back-to-back games against the tough Central Division rival Nashville Predators and came out on top in both games. On Saturday, Binnington shined with 29 saves.
Tarasenko has dominated
In those two games against Nashville, Vladimir Tarasenko had four goals to show he ready to turn it on in the playoff stretch run.
There are factors to winning hockey games... offense and goaltending and right now the Blues are getting both.
They are currently in the top wild-card spot ahead of the Minnesota Wild with one more regulation win and two games in hand with 59 points.
Remember not too long ago when there were rumors of Tarasenko perhaps being on the trading block?
Funny how you don't hear that anymore. He's squelched that talk rather quickly with his four goals in two games giving him 22 on the season.
Binnington shuts out the best team in the NHL
Prior to the Predators' game, Binnington shutout the best team in the league with 32 saves. It's not too often that the Tampa Bay Lightning come up empty. They are the best scoring team in the league with 3.88 goals scored a game.
It's quite a bit to expect a young goaltender to come up huge as he did, but Binnington has done it all in net for the Blues.
Now, all that can remain is will the Blues be able to keep winning at the pace they have exhibited?
After hosting the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night, the Blues go on the road for three games against teams who they are fighting for a playoff birth with them.
They face the Arizona Coyotes, Colorado Avalanche, and Minnesota Wild. The latter two games are back-to-back, so Binnington will more than likely not play in Minnesota.
It was once thought that the Achilles' heel for the Blues was in net.
With Binnington disproving that theory, the Blues have a legitimate shot at making the playoffs.
Perhaps all that Jake Allen needed was someone to push him out of the starting position in goal, and Binnington is doing just that.
It was just mid-December when we were all wondering what was wrong with the Blues.
They just needed Jordan Binnington to show them the way.
Will Jordan Binnington lead the way for the St. Louis Blues to find their way to the playoffs? Can anyone stop the Blues? Let us know in the comments section below.