Brayden Schenn had this preconceived notion when the St. Louis Blues began their grueling month of January schedule.
It came to fruition during their 2-1 win against the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday.
"I said to Jake [Neighbours] on the bench when we were in a 1-1 hockey game, I said, 'This is how it's going to be for a full month if we want to win hockey games,'" Schenn said. "We can't go run-and-gun with the top teams in the league and play open hockey. That's not going to work on our favor. It's another team where we feel we have to go in there and just grind. It's a tough building to play in. They come at you hard, there's no room in there. That's the mentality you've got to be ready for [Saturday] night. It's be prepared for a tough game."
The Blues (19-17-1) passed one test Thursday and will get another tonight against the sizzling Carolina Hurricanes (22-13-4), winners of five straight and averaging five goals per game in that stretch, including a 6-2 come-from-behind win against the Washington Capitals on Friday in which they scored five times in the third period.
Puck drop is at 7 p.m. on BSMW and ESPN 101.1-FM.
It's the start of seven straight for the Blues against Eastern Conference opponents, and all against teams over .500.
"This is an important month," Blues center Kevin Hayes said. "It's kind of a month that's going to let you know what you are for the rest of the season. We've got to take it game by game.
"You've got to show yourselves, show your teammates where you stand against these good teams."
Earlier in the season, the Blues seemed content to either win big or lose big. They have played three of the past four games down to the wire, all one-goal games, and interim coach Drew Bannister said they need to play those types of games against these teams.
"We've got to start being comfortable being in these uncomfortable positions because whether it's Vancouver or Carolina coming up or whoever we've got coming down the road, we can't get into shootouts with them," Bannister said. "We're not going to win those games. We have to be comfortable playing in these one-goal games and give us a chance to be in those games going into the third period whether we're down by one, even or up by one. That's where we have to manage the game and be comfortable playing in those situations."
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Sammy Blais will be a healthy scratch in the game tonight and be replaced by Jakub Vrana, who was recalled Thursday afternoon from Springfield of the American Hockey League.
Blais, who was re-acquired from the New York Rangers last season as part of the trade that sent Vladimir Tarasenko to New York, sizzled with the Blues in 31 games, scoring 20 points (nine goals, 11 assists) and was a plus-3. In 31 games thus far this season, he has just one goal and eight points and averaging just 10:07 of ice time as opposed to 14:35 a season ago.
"I don't think he's done anything necessarily wrong to be out of the lineup," Bannister said. "I think there's still a lot more there. Where he's playing right now, he's done a pretty good job of playing a direct game. I like some of the forechecking. That group (Thursday with Oskar Sundqvist and Nathan Walker), I thought they gave us energy, but there's still things in his game where he's got to be around the net a little bit more. It's not just him, the group as a whole have to get inside the dots a little bit more and right now I find as a group, and Sammy's one of them, that we're playing on the perimeter and Sammy's got to get to the net more to create offense for our team.
"I saw one for sure (Thursday) that we spoke about and we talked about it right before the third period and he knew exactly what I was talking about. He recognized it while he was on the ice."
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Defenseman Justin Faulk did not travel with the team for this one-game trip and will miss his third straight game with a lower-body injury.
Faulk was hurt in the waning seconds of a 2-1 loss against the Colorado Avalanche on Dec. 29 when he got clipped from behind and twisted to the ice by Avalanche defenseman Josh Manson.
"He's day to day," Bannister said of Faulk. "There could be an option for him to skate here either [Saturday] or [Sunday] when our day's off and then we'll see how he feels there if he practices with us on Monday leading into Tuesday."
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In the meantime, Matthew Kessel will remain in while Faulk is out and so far, the defenseman has looked strong in two games playing alongside Torey Krug.
Kessel played 17:59 on Thursday and handled himself well in his fourth NHL game going against some of Vancouver's high-end skill forwards.
Kessel did have one nearly-costly mistake when one of his passes was picked off near Jordan Binnington, but the Blues netminder was able to make the save on Teddy Blueger.
"Everybody tends to focus on the big mistakes, but I think that's one play out of many in the game," Bannister said. "Like I said to [Kessel], he probably could have taken the middle of the ice right away when he got the puck and picked on that F1 so that F1 wasn't able to cut off the pass to his partner. If he does that, then that play probably doesn't develop. But the overall was really, really positive with him, and him and Kruger have played really well together. They seem to have some chemistry. Kruger's been really good with him on the bench enforcing the positive. I'd like to see 'Kess' take the ice in front of him. I think right now there is the hesitancy for him just to want to get the puck up to our forwards, but sometimes the play isn't there. I'd like to see him move his feet, transport pucks, plays will eventually open up for him and then make the play. But overall, you've got to like the way he's played. He's been strong defensively, he's made some real good plays with the puck. I like the physicality, he's able to break up plays down low in our zone and he's done a good job net front."
It all boils right now down to Kessel deferring to the veterans.
"I think so, and I think that's just him having to be comfortable and trust what his abilities are and transform that from what he was doing in the American [Hockey] League to here and sometimes that takes a little time," Bannister said. "But I think there's a lot of positives there to see in his game and what he's done coming up here in the last two games and the minutes he's played and the matchups he's seen."
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* Defenseman Colton Parayko will play in his 615th game, which will move him ahead of Barclay Plager into sole possession of fourth among defenseman on the Blues all-time franchise list.
* Center Robert Thomas, who was named a first-time All-Star on Thursday, has scored in three straight games (four points) and has nine points (four goals, five assists) the past six games.
* Schenn is on the longest point drought of his NHL career at 11 games. He last recorded a point Dec. 8 against the Columbus Blue Jackets when he had an assist. Schenn hasn't scored in 15 games (Nov. 30 vs. Buffalo).
* Forward Pavel Buchnevich has six points (two goals, four assists) the past six games; he has 15 points (seven goals, eight assists) in 17 games vs. Carolina.
* The Blues will be saddled with the task of slowing down Hurricanes forward Andrei Svechnikov, who tied a franchise record Friday with his sixth straight multi-point game, a record set by Mike Rogers (1979-80) and tied by Kevin Dineen (1988-89); he has 14 points (seven goals, seven assists) the past six games.
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The Blues' projected lineup:
Pavel Buchnevich-Robert Thomas-Jordan Kyrou
Brandon Saad-Brayden Schenn-Jake Neighbours
Alexey Toropchenko-Kevin Hayes-Kasperi Kapanen
Nathan Walker-Oskar Sundqvist-Jakub Vrana
Nick Leddy-Colton Parayko
Torey Krug-Matthew Kessel
Marco Scandella-Scott Perunovich
Jordan Binnington will start in goal; Joel Hofer will be the backup.
Healthy scratches include Sammy Blais and Tyler Tucker. Justin Faulk (lower body) is out.
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The Hurricanes' projected lineup:
Andrei Svechnikov-Sebastian Aho-Teuvo Teravainen
Michael Bunting-Jack Drury-Jesperi Kotkaniemi
Jordan Martinook-Jordan Staal-Seth Jarvis
Brendan Lemieux-Vasily Ponomarev
Jaccob Slavin-Brent Burns
Brady Skjei-Brett Pesce
Dmitry Orlov-Jalen Chatfield
Tony DeAngelo
Antti Raanta is projected to start in goal; Pyotr Kochetkov would be the backup.
The Hurricanes may not have any healthy scratches. Frederik Andersen (blood clot), Jesper Fast (upper body), Stefan Noesen (illness) and Martin Necas (upper body) all or some will be out.
