Time was, a showdown between the St. Louis Blues and the Detroit Red Wings had serious Central Division standings implications. Times were different, then, simpler—the calendar said November, the president was a fella named Barack Obama; hockey was played on ice, and mostly (but not always!) in Canada, which wasn't a state, at th' time. On November 17 the Blues were 9-4-3, the Red Wings 11-3-1. Since then the Blues have gone 5-5-2 and the Red Wings 8-4-2—more pressingly for people who watch for easily defined Big Games, the Blues have fallen behind the other three teams in the Central Division, while they're at it.
↵Things could be worse for a team that sits last in its division; the Blues remain just a few points out of the eighth spot in the Western Conference. But the Red Wings are just as strongly in command of first, and sit eight points out in front of the Blues, which I think officially demotes this from showdown status.
↵All that early-season momentum gone in a wave of concussions and nausea. But maybe that's the angle for tonight's 6 PM contest at Detroit—this is a chance for the Blues to get a little heat back in St. Louis for the first time since their hot start cooled off.
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