Blues face key games while fighting their way through wickedly tough Central
ST. LOUIS -- Sometimes, it's hard not to speculate whether the powers that be who realigned the NHL divisions a few years ago had it out for the Central.
It's becoming a spring ritual, this fight-to-the-death battle for top postseason positioning among multiple teams in the division. The third-place Blues find themselves better situated than some -- the three top contenders for the West's wild-card berths (division rivals Nashville, Minnesota and Colorado) are still five to 13 points behind St. Louis -- but not yet in either of the top two spots they've managed to secure for the previous two postseasons.
And the next four days offer little breathing room.
But enticing opportunity as well.
Tonight, of course, is the marquee matchup against the Chicago Blackhawks. Chicago holds a 2-1 lead in the season series, but even more important is the two-point margin it holds over the Blues for second place in the division.
No matchup against Chicago is ever easy, but this time around, Chicago is revamped and retooled after the trade deadline, especially with the addition of forward Andrew Ladd. The Blackhawks also boast the top power play in the league.
"For us, we're coming into this treating it as a very big game -- trying to get into first place, trying to catch them and make sure that we can put ourselves in a good position to try and capture the division," says Blues forward Troy Brouwer, who won a Stanley Cup with the Blackhawks in 2010. "There's been a lot of turnover in certain guys over the past couple years, but the core of both teams are still intact. For that reason, that rivalry and that competitiveness gets rubbed off on everybody else."
In other words, it's going to look like a playoff game, feel like a playoff game, have playoff implications -- in essence, be everything but an actual playoff game.
"I think you're going to see a playoff atmosphere out there and both teams putting their best out," forward Ryan Reaves says.
But with the hyped atmosphere, there's also a note of caution for the Blues.
"If you get a little jump on them, you can't get too high because they'll make you pay for it," Reaves points out.
Once that's done, the Blues' reward -- or consolation prize -- is facing the Anaheim Ducks, who, for the first time in virtually a month, experienced what losing felt like when the league-leading Washington Capitals beat them 2-1 in a shootout Monday. Before that, the Ducks compiled an 11-0 run.
"I just look at it as where we're at after the game," Hitchcock says when asked to consider what this stretch of games says about his club headed toward the postseason. "You can't dwell very often because we get Chicago, who's a top team, obviously, and then we got probably the hottest team in the NHL 48 hours later. So you just can't dwell on too many things, but there's teaching moments right now, and I think from that standpoint, I'm curious to see how we play tonight against (Chicago), and we'll be ready to have the coaching moments tomorrow."
To round out the trilogy of terror, the Blues turn around and play the Central Division-leading Dallas Stars the following day. The Stars have a three-point advantage over the Blues in the standings, but head to head, the Blues have matched up well against them this season, winning three of four (though extra time was needed twice) and holding the NHL's most potent offense to two goals or under in three of those matchups.
"I think every day is kind of a four-point day at this point," Reaves says. "Everybody's making a push for their playoffs, so it's must-wins almost every game coming down the stretch."
The Blues are aware of the challenges presented by their annual road to the postseason. Though Reaves can't speak to playing in other professional sports leagues, he acknowledges the nonstop pressure the Blues seem to face every season about this time -- currently, five of the division's seven teams would make the playoffs, with Colorado threatening -- might arguably make their division the toughest not just in hockey, but in professional sports. Three Central Division teams rank second through fourth for the most points in the NHL overall; in two of the four NHL divisions, the Blues' 85 points would have them in the top spot.
"You look at the top of the league right now, and we have three, four of (the Central teams) in the top of the league, so it has been like that for a couple of years here now, and it's not going to change," Reaves says. "These teams seem to stack up on good players and always be really competitive."
And yet, with the script so similar to those in years past, the Blues have still managed to find different ways to grow.
One of those is communication -- from coaches to coaches, players to players, and players to coaches.
"You look at some stretches in the season where you're losing a couple games in a row and nothing seems to be clicking, or a month will go and we don't seem to be scoring anything -- we can't seem to put the puck in the net, and we sit down, and we talk about it, and then we go out and we fix it," Reaves says. "In past years, it's a lot of grumpy players when you can't put the puck in the net. It's tough. It's tough when your team's not scoring and things aren't going right, but I think this year just the maturity ... lets us get over it a little quicker.
"I think that's the key, is there's dialogue throughout the whole team. When that happens, things get fixed a lot quicker than when you're just kind of whispering it around the room."
Blues coach Ken Hitchcock identifies a significant area of improvement on the ice.
"Our structure, transition-wise," he says, when asked what's been the biggest improvement this year. "We have more continuity both offensively and defensively from a structure standpoint. We look more in sync as a group of five."
The Blues haven't enjoyed much continuity in the lineup, though. They've endured a plethora of injuries to key personnel -- "You just become numb after a while," Hitchcock admits -- and while they're tied for seventh in the NHL in man-games lost as of March 5, the impact of said players (relative to their Corsi, or shot attempt differential at even strength) is the highest in the league. Dallas and Chicago, for what it's worth, are in the bottom five of man-games lost in the entire NHL (although those rankings jump to fourth and ninth, respectively, when the impact of players relative to their Corsi is analyzed).
But because of the injuries, Brouwer believes the Blues may still have their best hockey in front of them.
"I don't think we've played a single game with a full roster yet this year," he says. "And so if we can get back to that, then yeah, I think because our team's built so well and with such depth, that we're going to be a very tough team to play against in the playoffs."
In other words, what may be different this season is that the Blues could be poised to go on a run -- right when it matters most.
