ST. LOUIS -- Let's face it, earlier in the season, the results for the St. Louis Blues would be pretty cut and dry. They were either winning big or losing big, and those results would be telling early enough in hockey games.
The Blues were either getting the brakes blown off them, or they were blowing the brakes off their opponents.
It was pretty simple.
But even with the 1-0 stinker of a game against the Columbus Blue Jackets Monday to close out the schedule prior to the All-Star Game, which will be played on Sunday in Toronto, the Blues (26-21-2) have at least found themselves in the fight more frequently from start to finish, and it's a strong reason why they were able to reel off five straight wins before their last loss, and against good, quality opponents.
"We're putting ourselves in a position that we're not out of games," Blues interim coach Drew Bannister said. "We're always in games I find right now, and I think that's a belief where we get ourselves into games that we get into the third period, whether we're tied, ahead or down by one that we have an opportunity to come out of this with a win or points at least.
"The things we can control are things we're starting to meet the standards on that, whether it's a mindset with our group. We're starting to see results with that. I think with results comes confidence and belief within the core group and the team."
The Blues did start the season with back-to-back shootout games, but then one-goal affairs were far and few between. In fact, over the course of the next 27 games, the Blues played in a total of three one-goal games, and for what's considered a one-goal league, maintaining a competitive edge from start to finish was not in the cards.
"It just seems lately that we're doing the right things to come back," Blues forward Jake Neighbours said. "I think earlier on in the year maybe we'd get a bit individual and try things that we don't tend to do usually to try and get ourselves back in a game. Now we just invest in the process, play the right way. You do that, goals are going to come."
When the Blues beat the Dallas Stars 4-3 in overtime on Dec. 16, it started a string of 10 one-goal results in 19 games. As the season moved towards the halfway point, teams were starting to understand the value of games, the value of points and the value of where they are in the standings in relation to playoff positioning.
"If you look at the standings, we all know how close it is," Blues defenseman Colton Parayko said. "I think it's obviously been a good stretch for us here, a good push coming up into the All-Star break. As long as we just keep building as a group, keep believing in here, I think we're going to be good. It's been a good little stretch here for our group and just got to keep pushing forward."
The Blues are 11-2-2 in one-goal games this season, and while it doesn't do a Blues fan's nerves much good, they do tend to perform well when games are under pressure. In other words, they're comfortable being uncomfortable.
"You have to be comfortable, especially if you want to make the playoffs," Blues captain Brayden Schenn said. "Whether you're up one or you're down one, you've got to feel comfortable in those games."
And that's happening now because of, "belief and playing the right way," Schenn said. "I think early on in the year whether it was going our way or it wasn't going our way, we weren't sticking to the structure in the program. Even though we had a good game plan in place, it felt like guys were kind of doing their own thing. I think when you stick to the team structure and guys are getting rewarded offensively and you're winning hockey games, it makes guys just want to buy in more. That's what you're seeing right now."
It used to be 1-0 deficits would turn into 2-0, then 3-0 and so forth, and they'd be out of the fight early. On their recent road trip that saw the Blues win all three in Calgary, Vancouver and Seattle, although it's not ideal, they didn't allow themselves to get pushed out of 3-1 deficits, winning each 4-3.
"It's more of a mentality than anything," Blues forward Jordan Kyrou said. "We're playing really strong as a team. We always have each other's backs out there. We're playing together on the ice. That builds character, and we've shown a lot of resiliency these past couple games.
"I think we go down one or two goals now, our mindset's not like, 'Aw, damn, we're probably going to lose this game.' It's like, 'We're going to bring it back, we're going to win this game, we're going to tie it up and bring it to overtime and win it.' We're finding ways to win, we're being resilient. We're going to continue to do that."
And it's all happened against quality opponents.
The Blues finished January 8-4-1 including wins against Vancouver (twice), Carolina, New York Rangers, Seattle, Calgary, Washington and Los Angeles. They also took Boston to overtime.
"I think it's just an attitude thing," Parayko said. "After you get a big win like that in Calgary, just in a sense of, 'This is us, this is how we play. We can beat any team.' If we're behind, we have the chance to play that way and sticking to our system. Just playing our style the whole way through. If we play our style, we give ourselves a good chance to win. Obviously you're not going to win every game, but if you do play that way, we give ourselves a good chance to win."
The Blues, who don't play again until Feb. 10 when they begin a three-game road trip against the Buffalo Sabres, are currently in the second wild card from the Western Conference with 54 points, tied with the Nashville Predators with two games in hand, two points ahead of the Kraken with a game in hand and two points behind the Kings for the first wild card.
So sticking with the process might be beneficial, and coming out of the gates strong with 14 games remaining until the March 8 trade deadline will tell general manager Doug Armstrong plenty of which direction he may want to go in.
"I think we're just investing in, kind of the longball type of game, not letting our emotions get too high or too low," Neighbours said. "If we go down one, we're able to battle back. Obviously down two, we've been able to come back a couple times in the past little bit. I think it's just a resiliency within us and just trying to stay within our emotions, not get too high, not get too low."
