We're at that point in the season where scoreboard-watching and paying attention to the standings starts to catch inquiring eyes.
It's not the dire straits point yet, but for the St. Louis Blues (22-20-2), who begin a three-game Pacific Division road swing against the Calgary Flames (21-20-5) starting today at 8 p.m. (BSMW, ESPN 101.1-FM), the sooner they start gaining some momentum the better.
It started with a solid 3-0 win Saturday against the Washington Capitals, and it needs to continue against the Flames, who are one point ahead of the Blues in the wild card race.
The Blues, who won in Calgary earlier this season (3-0 on Oct. 26), trail the Nashville Predators by five points for the second wild card but have three games in hand. There are also three teams ahead of the Blues (Calgary, Arizona and Seattle) but all have played at least one more game, so the Blues have games in hand against all the teams. And it will be up to them how they handle those. The Minnesota Wild are also one point behind the Blues, so it's a tight pack.
A victory tonight would be much-needed, and searching for a winning streak of any kind would be greatly beneficial. The fashion in which the Blues won Saturday could be a strong boost towards that.
"It's something to build on from our group," Blues defenseman Colton Parayko said. "Going on the road here, this is a big road trip obviously. A lot of teams right there with us in the standings, so we've got to go just one day, one game at a time. A good start for us to build on."
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The Blues will make one lineup change with Sammy Blais coming in and Adam Gaudette, who played the past two games, coming out of the lineup.
Blais has been a healthy scratch the past two games and four of the past six.
Otherwise, aside from a couple tweaks to the bottom six, the lineup remains the same, including Jordan Binnington in goal, which likely means Joel Hofer will get the nod Wednesday in Vancouver.
* note -- Blues forward Oskar Sundqvist will suit up for his 400th NHL game tonight; of his 399, 286 have been played with the Blues, 70 with the Detroit Red Wings, 28 with the Pittsburgh Penguins and 15 with the Minnesota Wild.
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The Blues' projected lineup:
Pavel Buchnevich-Robert Thomas-Jordan Kyrou
Brandon Saad-Brayden Schenn-Jake Neighbours
Nathan Walker-Kevin Hayes-Alexey Toropchenko
Nikita Alexandrov-Oskar Sundqvist-Sammy Blais
Nick Leddy-Colton Parayko
Torey Krug-Justin Faulk
Marco Scandella-Matthew Kessel
Jordan Binnington will start in goal; Joel Hofer will be the backup.
Healthy scratches include Scott Perunovich and Adam Gaudette. Kasperi Kapanen (lower body) is out.
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The Flames' projected lineup:
Jonathan Huberdeau-Elias Lindholm-Yegor Sharangovich
Connor Zary-Nazem Kadri-Matt Coronato
Andrew Mangiapane-Mikael Backlund-Blake Coleman
A.J. Greer-Cole Schwindt-Adam Klapka
MacKenzie Weegar-Rasmus Andersson
Noah Hanifin-Chris Tanev
Jordan Oesterle-Dennis Gilbert
Jacob Markstrom will start in goal; Dan Vladar will be the backup.
Healthy scratches include Adam Ruzicka and Nick DeSimone. Martin Pospisil (upper body) and Dillon Dube (illness) are out.
