Photo: St. Louis Blues

When Doug Armstrong fired Drew Bannister for Jim Montgomery in November, it was clear that the Blues were no longer interested in retooling. It was time to win.

It’s safe to say that the hire is paying off.

According to MoneyPuck.com, the Blues playoff chances have gone from 7.5% on Feb. 23 to 92.7% after Cam Fowler’s backhand beauty to win their 10th straight game.

It’s hard to believe what a coach’s belief can do to a team.

The St. Louis Blues beat the Detroit Red Wings 2-1 in overtime at Enterprise Center on April 1, 2025. (Photos: Scott Rovak, Joe Puetz and Lexie Knight)

Montgomery showed a brilliant understanding of team offense when he ran the Blues’ power play for two years under Craig Berube. He’s a man who clearly has a lot of belief in his players.

The pieces were always there, guys like Jordan Kyrou, Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich were well established top-line producers, while Jake Neighbours was fresh off of a 27-goal breakout campaign. Even still, watching a Bannister-coached game compared to these last 10 games is a night and day difference.

Going from a coach that Buchnevich essentially said didn’t practice offense to Montgomery was exactly what this team needed. It’s turned Kyrou and Thomas (who has also recovered from a broken ankle) into their old selves. 

It’s turned Dylan Holloway from an inconsistent, high-upside project into a perfect prototype of the modern player. He’s been able to put the speed, shot, and edge together and morphed into a real 200-foot player.

Even Colton Parayko, who has had increased defensive responsibilities since the departure of Alex Pietrangelo, has had the best season of his career. He was scoring at the best rate of his career all while maintaining his strong defensive game.

However, the biggest blossom under Montgomery has been Zack Bolduc, a 2021 first-round pick who was seemingly lost in the shuffle. Under Montgomery, he’s become a vital piece, showing off a great shot while being more than willing to stick up for teammates.

As good as the offense has been, having a +40 goal differential under Montgomery, the sacrifice that this team has endured has been inspiring. Just since the break, we have seen Neighbours fighting after Buchnevich took a dirty hit. We’ve seen Zack Bolduc defend Robert Thomas after an open-ice collision.

Perhaps the biggest testament to this team was the ninth win of the streak, a 2-1 win in Colorado. With Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnon out on the ice for over two minutes, with an empty net, without their best defenseman, the Blues stood tall. They blocked the shots that they could, and Jordan Binnington stopped the ones that got to him.

That’s guts, that’s courage, that’s sack hockey.

Currently, the Blues have a full roster of players on the same page. Everyone is bought in and pushing toward the same goal even if they’re not playing every game.

That’s how Alexandre Texier goes from sitting a month to scoring power play goals in two straight games. That’s how Oskar Sundqvist sits out during Dalibor Dvorsky’s debut but serves as the perfect veteran center for Jimmy Snuggerud in his first game.

To say that this team is peaking at the right time is an understatement. It’s hard to say how the Blues will fare if they get to face Winnipeg or Vegas, but for a city whose two teams have each had consecutive seasons without postseason action, Montgomery is giving this city something to believe in, with a team he believes in.