The Blues have moved from one tight win to another test, carrying a 2-1 victory over the Jets into Thursday’s game against Vegas. It is the first stop in a two-game stretch that will send them through both teams from the 2026 Stanley Cup Final.
That is why Golden Knights Vs Blues is drawing attention now: the Blues are only one game into a five-game homestand, and this next one arrives right after a night when they finally got over the line in a one-goal game. St. Louis had been one of the last four NHL teams to win such a game, so the result against the Jets did more than add two points. It also showed they could close one out.
Robert Thomas has been part of that early push. He has five points in nine games, a line that gives the Blues some production even as they work through a demanding stretch at home. With Vegas up first and Carolina waiting next, the week has been set up around the same simple question: can they keep stacking points against the teams that finished at the top of the league last season?
Toropchenko was back with the team on Thursday, skating for the fourth time this week in an optional morning skate ahead of the game against Vegas. That matters because it is the clearest sign yet of where he stands as the matchup approaches, even if it does not answer whether he will dress. In a week built around one rivalry game and then another, his presence on the ice is part of the story the Blues are still trying to write for themselves.
The schedule gives them no room to settle. Vegas comes first, Carolina follows, and the homestand is barely underway. For St. Louis, the next result will say as much about the team’s place in the week as the win over the Jets already has.
