ST. LOUIS -- Call this the season. Well technically, it isn't, but in reality, it is for the St. Louis Blues (38-30-3), who begin a four-game homestand on Monday at 7 p.m. (BSMW, ESPN 101.1-FM) against the Vegas Golden Knights (38-25-7), the team they're chasing for the second wild card into the Western Conference. Morning skate report vs. Golden Knights (3-25-24) The scenario is simple: win the game in regulation, and for the Blues, who have won six of seven, they're two points out of the wild card and it's game on for the rest of the season. A regulation loss, and it's all but done from a Blues perspective. Winning in overtime or a shootout would gain a point, which wouldn't be the worst outcome, but losing a point is also not ideal. So the best-case outcome would be a regulation victory to keep this ship afloat. "It's a fun day to come to the rink," Blues interim coach Drew Bannister said with a smile. "It's an exciting day for the guys to play meaningful hockey. This is where we want to be." The Blues are two points ahead of the Minnesota Wild, and it seems to be a three-team race for that last remaining wild card. "Every game's the biggest one coming up. It's the team we're chasing," Blues center Kevin Hayes said. "We're a resilient group. We put ourselves in this position after a couple bad stretches there. We've kind of been in playoff hockey mode for a while now and I think everyone's stepped up." The mix of veterans that have been there, done that, combined with the young players experiencing this for the first time has seemed to being the right combination together at the right time, something guys like Jake Neighbours said goes a long way for a player like him experiencing this for the first time. "Yeah I think so. The experience of playing meaningful games and trying to get points and get into the playoffs, it's what you want as a young player, older player, any player," said Neighbours, who is riding a career-high six-game point streak (five goals, two assists). "It's obviously very important. Just taking it day by day. "It's tight. There's not a lot of room out there. Pace of play's very high. Guys are just competing. It's guys are wanting to get in or move up in the standings or whatever the team's case may be. Points are huge this time of year and guys are fighting for them and the intensity of the game's way higher. "I don't think we ever had a thought in our brain that we were out of it. A lot of things can happen in a 15-game stretch and we knew if we put our best foot forward and started winning some hockey games, we're going to give ourselves a chance and that's what we've been doing. We've got a lot of character in this room, a lot of veterans that are leading the way. Young guys are stepping up and playing hard. Our vets, they know how to win and they're kind of handing that down to us younger guys and we're finding ways." Blues captain Brayden Schenn, a Stanley Cup winner in 2019, is one leading by example. "It takes everyone and past experiences," Schenn said. "Down the stretch, you have to find ways to step up your game. It's every little details in the game that's going to win hockey games. If most nights, when the veteran guys are doing that, everyone else follows. I think we've got a lot of veteran guys in this locker room that are playing some good hockey right now. It starts with our goalies. When we've got good goaltending each night, you're giving yourself a chance to win and it gives you confidence in the room." - - - The Blues appear to be altering their lineup for tonight, perhaps going with 11 forwards and seven defensemen. At the morning skate, they had Sammy Blais skating on the fourth line in place of Zack Bolduc, but it doesn't appear he's going to be in the lineup but defenseman Marco Scandella will. "That'll be a game time decision what we plan to do," Bannister said. The Blues have shortened their bench in recent games, more so during the later stages, including Saturday's win at Minnesota with Jordan Kyrou and Pavel Buchnevich getting more ice time. "I thought going into the Minnesota game, obviously there's never a plan to shorten the bench; you don't want to, but I thought Kyrou and 'Buchy' were really going in that game and I felt at the time in the third period that was the right thing to do with where the game was at being down by one, we wanted to get our offensive players out on the ice more," Bannister said. "Obviously for us, it worked out in our favor." Scandella played in a 5-2 win against the Ottawa Senators last Thursday, his first game after being a healthy scratch the previous five games. "He'd been out for a while, but I thought as the game went on, his kills were great," Bannister said. "He brings a lot of energy and compete to our lineup. He's a great teammate inside the dressing room, brings a lot of energy to our group, a very positive guy and he's somebody that has been real important to us this year." - - - Former Blues captain Alex Pietrangelo (illness) did not accompany the Golden Knights to begin a four-game road trip and is out tonight. Former Blues forward Ivan Barbashev is here and will play. Vegas will start Logan Thompson in goal with Adin Hill (lower-body injury) out after being injured in the third period of a 4-2 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday. - - - The Blues' projected lineup: Brayden Schenn-Robert Thomas-Jake Neighbours Brandon Saad-Pavel Buchnevich-Jordan Kyrou Alexey Toropchenko-Kevin Hayes-Kasperi Kapanen Oskar Sundqvist-Nathan Walker Nick Leddy-Colton Parayko Torey Krug-Matthew Kessel Scott Perunovich-Justin Faulk Marco Scandella Jordan Binnington will start in goal; Joel Hofer will be the backup. Healthy scratches include Sammy Blais, Nikita Alexandrov, Zach Dean, Zack Bolduc and Tyler Tucker. The Blues report no injuries. - - - The Golden Knights' projected lineup: Ivan Barbashev-Jack Eichel-Jonathan Marchessault Chandler Stephenson-Nicolas Roy-Anthony Mantha Pavel Dorofeyev-William Karlsson-Michael Amadio William Carrier-Brett Howden-Keegan Kolesar Noah Hanifin-Nicolas Hague Brayden McNabb-Shea Theodore Ben Hutton-Zach Whitecloud Logan Thompson will start on goal; Jiri Patera will be the backup. Healthy scratches include Alec Martinez and Paul Cotter. Tomas Hertl (lower body), Alex Pietrangelo (illness), Mark Stone (spleen) and Adin Hill (lower body) are all out. Image [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjAyODg2ODQ2NzgxMzM0NTQw/img_6511.jpg]
