ST. LOUIS \u2014 When it comes to trying to sneak into the NHL playoffs, the St. Louis Blues have made it interesting the past few seasons.<\/p>\n
In 2024-25, the Blues were eight points out of a postseason spot when they returned from the 4 Nations Face-Off break. They went 19-4-3 the rest of the way to grab the second wild-card spot.<\/p>\n
This season, they were 14 points out of a spot when they returned from the Olympic break. Since then, they are 10-2-2, including a thrilling 2-1 overtime victory over the San Jose Sharks on Thursday, capped by a Dylan Holloway backhander goal with just three seconds left in overtime.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019re all digging in for each other, just having fun too,\u201d Holloway said. \u201cThat\u2019s a big thing. The more fun you have, the better the product, the more the team gels. We\u2019re trying to relish that and push as hard as we can.\u201d<\/p>\n
Is this happening again? And if so, how?<\/p>\n
The Blues won Thursday without Robert Thomas, who is day-to-day with an upper-body injury stemming from a body slam by the Washington Capitals\u2019 Pierre-Luc DuBois earlier in the week.<\/p>\n
No problem, 20-year-old center Dalibor Dvorsky stepped in against San Jose\u2019s top line featuring young superstar Macklin Celebrini, scored a goal, and was 11-8 on faceoffs.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe did a great job,\u201d Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. \u201cHe owned the middle of the ice. When you\u2019re a centerman, you\u2019ve got to own the middle of the ice. He scored in the middle of the ice, and he made some good defensive plays with his stick below the goal line in the middle of the ice. So he did a lot of good things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not only that, but Jimmy Snuggerud, 21, has six goals and 13 points in his past 10 games. Defenseman Logan Mailloux, 22, has logged 20-plus minutes in each of his past 13 games and is a plus-5. Otto Stenberg, 2o, was recalled and now he\u2019s dropping the gloves. Defenseman Theo Lindstein, 21, has played eight NHL games and is a plus-2.<\/p>\n
Make no mistake, the Blues\u2019 success has a lot to do with the goaltending, especially Joel Hofer<\/a>. With Thursday\u2019s win, he improved to 7-0-2 with a 1.29 goals-against average and .959 save percentage since the Olympic break.<\/p>\n But there\u2019s enough good things happening across the ice that you can\u2019t chalk it all up to the crease.<\/p>\n \u201cI love the way our team is maturing,\u201d Montgomery said. \u201cWe\u2019re showing signs of becoming a good game-management team, which is going to give you a lot of wins, especially nights like (Thursday) where you don\u2019t think you have your A game.\u201d<\/p>\n Why now, though?<\/p>\n Montgomery begged for better game management all season and didn\u2019t get it. And it\u2019s hard to say that it was trading veterans Brayden Schenn and Justin Faulk because coming out of the Olympic break, the Blues were 3-1 and playing better before the trade deadline.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy it took this long or why we\u2019re doing it now \u2026 (why) we didn\u2019t do it in October and November? Sometimes it\u2019s just the attitude,\u201d Montgomery said. \u201cI think we started this year thinking we were going to be good, and when it didn\u2019t happen, we stopped working \u2014 like all of us. I include myself and everybody in it. We got frustrated instead of finding solutions. We\u2019re finding solutions now.\u201d<\/p>\n But can they find enough wins to sneak into the playoffs for the second straight season? Let\u2019s take a look at the challenge ahead.<\/p>\n Western Conference wild-card race<\/p>\n If the Blues make the playoffs, it\u2019ll have to happen like it did last season, via the wild card. The Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild are out of reach at the top of the Central Division.<\/p>\n The Utah Mammoth are currently holding down the No. 1 wild card in the West with 80 points and nine games remaining. The Nashville Predators are the No. 2 wild card, with 77 points and 10 games left.<\/p>\n Just going by the current points percentage, the team to catch is the Predators, who are on pace for 88 points. The Blues are at 71, so that would mean they need at least 17 more points for Montgomery\u2019s club \u2014 a record of 8-2-1 or thereabouts in their last 11 games.<\/p>\n And even that might not do it.<\/p>\n That\u2019s because after Utah and Nashville, there are still four other teams in front of the Blues in the standings.<\/p>\n