Time to admit the Blues are good, but can they be great?

The time has come. It's halfway through November and we finally have to admit it. The St. Louis Blues are good.

There was suspicion ahead of the 2017-18 campaign that this Central Division team may be a sleeper competitor in the West. Then some preseason injuries squashed any belief in that, and many turned back to focusing on other teams. But now, a month and a half into the season, St. Louis is at the top of the whole Western Conference and have won seven of their last ten.

There's no getting around it. The Blues are a legitamite competitor. Which brings up the question: How long will this hot streak last for?

Expectations for the Blues dipped during training camp when forward Robbi Fabbri was sidelined with a season-ending injury . Maybe that's what made it so surprising when St. Louis kicked off the campaign halting the defending Stanley Cup champion Penguins 5-4 in overtime. They won their first four straight tilts, all by at least three goals – you can thank the red-hot line combo of Jaden Schwartz, Vladimir Tarasenko, and Brayden Schenn for that.

Of course, there is concern over whether or not they can keep ahead of the pack. Not surprisingly, some are already chalking this up to being a hot start and nothing else. Partially because St. Louis isn't getting enough secondary scoring to keep up the pace. Sure, you have Paul Stastny and Alex Pietrangelo registering points, but production drops off pretty significantly after that. There are also questions regarding of how long Jaden Schwartz is going to stay hot for – the whole top line, for that matter. The Blues will need to able to role out more offense to help out netminder Jake Allen, who is currently posting a .908 saves percentage.

There's also the matter of how streaky they have been as a team. After winning their first four, they went on a two-game skid. The same has happened this past week as they dropped back-to-back tilts against the Islanders and Flames respectively. (Calgary thumped St. Louis 7-4.)

Perhaps we'll get a better idea of how St. Louis stacks up as they head into the end-of-the-year portion of the schedule, which is chalk full of Western Conference competition. After a quick jaunt up to Canada, the Blues host the likes of the Oilers, Predators, Wild, and Kings. (L.A. is the biggest threat in the standings, just a couple of points back in the conference and well within striking distance.)

So yes, the St. Louis Blues are good. The next month of games, however, will surely show whether or not they can be great.