The month of January went much better for the Blues this time around. The team was in contention last season heading into January, but went 2-8-2 and fell out of the playoff race.
Though the Blues fell, 3-2, to Pittsburgh in a shootout Monday, the club closed the month with a record of 8-1-2 for a season mark of 29-13-6. That is good for the third-most points in the NHL and second most in the Western Conference.
"We've improved game to game, week to week, all season long," Blues captain David Backes said. "We're in a spot where we'd like to end the season … we just need to make sure that we don't have any dropoff. Teams like Pittsburgh and Detroit and Chicago, they ramp it up consistently after the All-Star break and we need to match that and separate us from the teams below us."
The Blues went 0-1-1 in their final two games before the break, including Monday's 3-1 defeat to Detroit, but they don't consider themselves to be limping into the break. In the loss to Detroit, they failed to match the Red Wings' intensity in the second and third periods. On Tuesday, it was a much different story against Pittsburgh.
"What we can take away from this is the way we raised our level as the game went on," Blues forward T.J. Oshie said. "Last (Monday) night against Detroit, that's where we fell down, that's where we struggled. They kicked it up and we didn't respond. Tonight, we were that team. We were the team kicking it in."
The Blues now have plenty of time to rest. Their nine-game layoff over the All-Star break is the longest in the NHL. They won't be back on the ice until Feb. 3 when they face Los Angeles at Scottrade Center.
"The rest is going to be huge, especially with our schedule coming up … going coast to coast," Oshie said. "I think we have 16-day road trip. The break is going to be good, but we're definitely excited with where we're at right now. We want to be better and we'll be ready to go after the break."
The Blues may get concussed players Andy McDonald and Alex Steen back after the all-star break, but they aren't counting on it.
McDonald has been out since the third game of the season, while Steen missed his 13th in a row Tuesday. Both have been skating rigorously with the club, but no timetable is set for their return.
"Until I see the whites of their eyes, I'm not going on that pretend thing," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. "I watch it everyday in practice and as much as we'd love to have both guys here, and they look great … I'm not going there. That injury, I just don't know when these guys are going to be here and stay in."
The Blues were 0 for 3 on the power play in Tuesday's 3-2 shootout loss to Pittsburgh. They will go into the All-Star break on a 2-for-29 slide, ranking them 28th in the NHL (13.4 percent).
"The one thing we've got to fix is the power play," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. "Our power play could have won us both of these games (including Monday's 3-1 loss to Detroit). We were in a perfect position to do it, and we've got to fix it. Coming back from the break, we've got to decide which way we're going to go."
"Every time you score a goal, I think you gain confidence. The pucks bounced my way a little bit too. It was a fun game to be a part of." -- Blues center Patrik Berglund, who snapped a seven-game pointless drought with two goals in Tuesday's 3-2 shootout loss to Pittsburgh.
