Blues continue to overcome injuries, move up the standings

Through the 2015-16 NHL season, the Central Division has been considered the toughest in the league. For a team riddled with injuries, competing in such a sturdy division takes some extra push.

Enter the St. Louis Blues, who, despite being beat-up and bruised for the majority of this campaign, are clawing their way up the standings while still fighting off the injury bug.

In the final week of February hockey, the Blues start off with news that netminder Jake Allen will make a triumphant return between the pipes. The good news, however, was accompanied by the report that forward Alexander Steen was placed on IR — the injury sustained when he crashed hard into the boards during the first frame of Saturday's contest against the Arizona Coyotes.

Yet despite being without their second-best scorer, the Blues pulled out a 6-4 victory over the Desert Dogs. It was the team’s fifth win in a row, as St. Louis edged closer to the Dallas Stars and Chicago Blackhawks atop the division ladder.

"When our best all-around player goes down, there's a lot to shoulder," captain David Backes reportedly said after the win. "Different guys stepped up and played bigger minutes with bigger responsibility and did a heck of a job.”

That’s the key for any team to win, really — getting contributions from a bevy of different players when the big guns get bruised. The ability to adjust to the adversity is what puts St. Louis in position to think about a playoff push.

Maybe the ability to adjust even with the “Injury Ninja” constantly hitting the team is the fact that the Blues really haven’t been fully healthy all season. They lost young forward Jaden Schwartz seven games into the season after he fractured his ankle during a practice. More recently, Allen missed 17 games after sustaining a lower-body injury during a two-game run in January that also sidelined Paul Stastny, Jay Bouwmeester, Carl Gunnarsson and Magnus Paajarvi.

That’s a lot of bodies to lose in just two tilts.

But the number of healthy bodies St. Louis gets back down the stretch should help. Getting Schwartz back on Feb. 12 after 49 games has proved positive, as the 23-year-old has tallied five points (four goals, one assist) in five games. Allen’s return should help as well, taking some of workload off of Brian Elliott’s shoulders. Elliott has risen to the occasion, having gone 10-2-2 with a 1.70 goals-against average since Jan. 18 (that average probably got bumped up a bit after surrendering four goals to Arizona on Saturday), but another reliable option in net is huge.

The jury is still out on how long the Blues can rally without Steen, given that the team said he would be re-evaluated after four weeks. However, should he be healthy at the end of March and the Blues are able to keep winning points, Steen could bring welcomed offensive depth in time for the playoffs.

There’s also the possibility of the Blues getting depth from the trade market. Dan Rosen of NHL.com sees St. Louis as being a buyer at the upcoming deadline, explaining that the “Blues have to do whatever they can to avoid another first-round playoff loss. This is too good of a team, of a core, to have it happen again.”

Whatever help they get, the Blues aren't feeling sorry for themselves with so many players out hurt and continue to find ways to win.

"It's been that type of season," Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock told the media back on Jan. 11. "We've battled through this thing and nobody feels sorry for us in the League... We've got to get points, we've got to finish this thing strong."