Blues continue playoff push at home against Coyotes
There likely would have been times earlier this season when the pain from a loss like the St. Louis Blues sustained Saturday night would have lingered for days.
Now, the Blues view it as just a minor bump in the road as they continue their push toward clinching a playoff spot.
They spent Sunday looking ahead to a Monday night home game against the Arizona Coyotes, and the final two weeks of the regular season, instead of moping about their 3-2 loss to the Calgary Flames. That game ended when a pass deflected off a skate and into the St. Louis net with just 2.5 seconds left in overtime.
All three Calgary goals came off deflections by St. Louis players.
"It's tough when all three goals go in off your own guys," Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said. "I feel bad for Jake (Allen), to play the way he did. Tough bounces, but we got a point out of it."
The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for the Blues, and was only their second defeat in their last 11 games. That stretch has put them in solid position to make the playoffs, either as the third seed in the Central Division or as one of the two wild-card teams in the Western Conference.
The Blues go into Monday night's game trailing the Nashville Predators by one point in the battle for third in the Central. They are two points behind the Flames for the top wild-card spot, and looking ahead has become their focus.
"I think that's something we've learned since Mike (Yeo) took over," Allen said. "Go back at it next shift, don't worry about what happened. Keep playing, things will come. We still got a point, and that's our objective right now, keep getting points."
Monday night's contest will be the first of two games in three nights for the Blues against the last-place Coyotes, who will host St. Louis on Wednesday.
"We've got to be ready to bounce back," Yeo said. "For a while here, we've been focused on building our game. We've got a pretty good sense of when we are doing the right things, what it looks like, and when we're not ... we're not done, we have to keep going."
The Coyotes have lost five of their last six games but have at least one reason to look forward to Monday night's contest. It will mark the NHL debut of their top pick in last summer's draft, forward Clayton Keller. The St. Louis native signed an entry-level contract Sunday, one day after his Boston University team lost in the NCAA Tournament.
As a freshman, Keller led the Terriers with 21 goals and 24 assists in 31 games.
"Clayton is a highly skilled, dynamic forward," Arizona general manager John Chayka said in a statement. "He is a strong skater who has a powerful shot and great hockey sense. We are excited to have him join our team and finish the regular season with the Coyotes."
