St. Louis is seven points out of Western Conference wild card race, to face Flyers, Islanders, Devils, Rangers, Bruins needing to build off 3-1 win against Minnesota
ST. LOUIS -- The St. Louis Blues played Game No. 60 on Saturday against the Minnesota Wild, and it had a playoff feel to it.
As a matter of fact, every game from here on out until that final regular season game in Dallas against the Stars on April 17 will have a playoff feel to it, or at least until the Blues (31-26-3) somehow get eliminated from the Western Conference wild card race.
It could still happen, and odds at the present time they still will being seven points behind the surging Nashville Predators and Los Angeles Kings, as the Blues open their longest road trip of the season beginning Monday against the Philadelphia Flyers.
Oskar Sundqvist (70) and the Blues open a five-game road trip on Monday against the Philadelphia Flyers.But their 3-1 win against the Wild was a must. Anything else would have dimmed the lights even more.
"Every point from here on out is extremely important if you want to get into the playoffs, especially how tight the race is right now, especially against a divisional opponent that you're battling with," said Blues forward Jake Neighbours after scoring his 20th goal Saturday. "That's a big win at home before a long road trip."
That's why Saturday's game had all the playoff feels without the playoff physicality to it. Neither team wanted to do something dumb -- although the Wild took seven minor infractions -- to jeopardize the two points on the night.
"Yeah, for us right now and for a lot of teams in our position, every point's important," Blues interim coach Drew Bannister said. "It's do-or-die hockey right now, it's playoff hockey. These are meaningful games. For us [Saturday], it's a step in the right direction. There were some positive things we can take from this game, but we have to get on a roll here. We have to play more consistently and go on the road because we have some good hockey teams in front of us and we're going to have to be better."
Besides the Flyers, it's an Eastern Conference feel to the trip that includes games against the New York Islanders on Tuesday, New Jersey Devils on Thursday before the NHL Trade Deadline on Friday, the New York Rangers on Saturday and the Boston Bruins March 11 to wrap it up.
By the end of the trip, the Blues will be down to 17 regular-season games remaining, 11 of them at Enterprise Center, and there's a sense of the magnitude now that games are into March that they have a great magnitude.
"Yeah, absolutely," said Blues defenseman Torey Krug, who had a goal and an assist. "Obviously, collecting points at this time of year, it’s going to try to close the gap as much as you can. When you’re playing head-to-head, it pushes one group down and the other one gets a boost moving forward up in the standings. Very important to collect those points."
The Blues, who have 65 points, know they can't control what those teams ahead of them, or what the teams around them (Calgary Flames, 65 points with 22 games remaining; Wild, 64 points with 20 games remaining; and Seattle Kraken, 63 points with 22 games remaining) are doing. So when Bannister says they have to get on a roll, it's obviously imperative.
"We need to care just about our team and how we play and don’t look at other teams," said Blues forward Alexey Toropchenko, who opened the scoring Saturday with his 10th goal of the season, tying a career-high set last season. "Just maybe before the games (to see) how they play, just to get to know a little (about the standings), but we need to focus on our game and play our way."
