Paul Stastny Starting To Earn Star Role With St. Louis Blues

Paul Stastny has been a bit snake bitten since his arrival to his hometown St. Louis Blues, but that appears to be coming to an end. He has suffered through two injury stints at the beginning of the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons. He got off to decent starts to both years only to have it derailed by those injuries and then never get back on track fully.

The fickle and frustrated portion of the fanbase has mislabeled him a failure simply because he didn’t live up to their lofty expectations. That said, even Stastny himself would tell you he has been frustrated by his lack of consistent production. While Stastny has never truly been a goalscorer, five goals midway through a season isn’t where he would want to be.

Some of the problem has been a crisis of confidence. Stastny has passed up good scoring opportunities in an attempt to set up teammates and not be selfish. The result has been a lack of goals and points in general.

Prior to facing the Pittsburgh Penguins for a second time, Stastny only had four goals and 19 points. Then he exploded. Stastny had a goal and three assists against the Penguins, and Blues fans can only hope that this is the start of a resurgence from here on out.

Stastny now has two goals in as many games and six points in his last five games. While there is no guarantee that Stastny will keep up his pace, it is still a welcome uptick. The Blues don’t need him to lead the team in goals from this point forward, but they do need him to score. They need him to earn the position he has been given as the top line center, and signs are pointing to him doing just that.