Blues start favorable closing stretch vs. Canucks (Mar 23, 2017)
ST. LOUIS -- With 10 games remaining in the regular season and a favorable schedule, the St. Louis Blues are in an enviable position among the teams chasing the final playoff berths in the Western Conference.
They also know they can't take anything for granted, beginning with their Thursday night game against the Vancouver Canucks.
The Blues (39-28-5) currently are tied with Nashville (36-25-11) for the third spot in the Central Division and own the tiebreaker over the Predators, who will play in St. Louis on April 2.
That is one of only two games left on the Blues' schedule against an opponent in the hunt for a playoff spot.
St. Louis also will play the Calgary Flames, but its other eight games following the matchup against the Canucks include two each versus Arizona and Colorado and games against Winnipeg, Florida and Carolina.
A 4-2 win in Colorado on Tuesday night completed a 4-1 road trip for the Blues and extended their current hot stretch to eight wins in their last nine games.
"I think we were all a little tired from this whole trip," goalie Jake Allen said. "It's been a long trip and we are all ready to go home, but to find a way to get two points was huge. I wanted to give us a chance to win and I thought I did that. I thought I played well and our guys responded."
The Blues overcame the loss of center Paul Stastny, who missed the final two periods because of an injured foot. Stastny was listed as week-to-week with a lower-body injury on Wednesday.
Two players who could play key roles down the stretch for St. Louis are forwards Jaden Schwartz and Zach Sanford, who was acquired in the February trade that sent Kevin Shattenkirk to Washington.
Sanford had two assists against the Avalanche in his third game with the Blues.
"Every game he's gaining confidence from us as a coaching staff and he's showing he's a responsible player," coach Mike Yeo said.
Yeo also was pleased that Schwartz finally scored a goal after going 15 consecutive games without one, and hopes that will be a breakthrough for Schwartz.
"It's almost impossible to play as well as he has and not score goals," Yeo said. "We told him that first one was going to come around that blue paint and it was good for him to get that monkey off his back."
The Canucks have won only one of their last seven games but it came on Tuesday night in Chicago, a 5-4 victory in overtime that snapped a six-game losing streak. Vancouver had a 4-1 lead in the third period before the Blackhawks rallied to send the game to overtime.
"Every guy in here has battled hard and had got nothing to show for it," said Canucks forward Daniel Sedin, who scored the winning goal on a power play. "It's nice to get rewarded with a win."
Vancouver (29-34-9) is off to a 1-1-0 start to a five-game road trip.
