By LOU KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- When the Blues woke up this morning and spotted their place in the standings realizing that the wiggle room pertaining the Stanley Cup Playoff race in the Western Conference is gone, it placed a certain twist to the feel for the remaining 21 games in the regular season.
It's a feeling of angst, anxiety and most importantly, one of embracement.
"I think it's a little bit of everything," Blues defenseman Colton Parayko said. "I think embrace the challenge is a pretty good way of putting it because the group that we have is awesome, the group that we have has been to the playoffs many years in a row and knows what it takes. These are basically going to be playoff games from here on out. That's the best part is that we have a good group and we have a group that's able to win and a group that's very good.
"It's one of those things where we've got to do a playoff mentality each and every time. It's one of the things where we've got to look after each other on the ice and take care of each other and we're coming each and every night and playing a full 60. Playing a full 60 now is a key for us. If we do that and we obviously do it the way we can, you may not win every night, but we definitely give ourselves the best opportunity to create opportunities. If we do that, we'll be in a great spot."
When the Blues (34-23-4) host the Winnipeg Jets (35-16-9) at 7 p.m. today (FS-MW, KMOX 1120-AM), they can jump back into a tie for third place in the Central Division with the Dallas Stars and leapfrog the Minnesota Wild by one point in the Wild wildcard standings.
As it sits now, the Blues hold down the second wildcard by one point over the Los Angeles Kings and Calgary Flames and lead the Colorado Avalanche by three.
It's a mess, and the Blues are right smack in the middle of it.
But as Blues coach Mike Yeo put it, they could be in a worse place than this.
"You can be at the bottom of the standings and have nothing to play for and the other thing I would say is, we're going to have to play really good hockey to make the playoffs," Yeo said. "When you do that, you also go into the playoffs in a good spot, too.
"We have to make sure we stay in the moment, that's going to be really important, that we don't get caught up in looking at what other teams are doing and don't get caught up in your previous result, whether it's good, whether it's bad. As much as anything else, you have to be a gamer, you have to enjoy this stuff, and you have to play your best hockey right now."
And for the Blues, getting in playing in these pressure-packed games, like Yeo said, is like a precursor to what could be lengthy momentum going into the postseason.
"Essentially, especially if you're able to carry it on into playoffs, kind of get into playoff mode, but there's no wiggle room at this point and it's an opportunity at this point for us to come together and an opportunity for us to enjoy the process," Parayko said. "It's an exciting time for us ands a time where we can really make a good push and make a statement by finishing the season strong. We still have a lot of good opponents, which is another good bonus because playoffs is extremely tough and it's going to be hard."
However, putting an end to the Blues' season-long four-game losing streak is the first step in maintaining that playoff position. The Blues haven't won since winning at Winnipeg on Feb. 9.
"It's obviously been in the back of our minds, it's something that we don't enjoy," Parayko said. "We all want to win. When you drop four in a row, it's no fun. We're going to obviously come tonight, put our best foot forward and do everything we can to get a win for our fans, ourselves and everybody involved."
So just take the challenge and run with it, right coach?
"There's no question," Yeo said. "I think we've had that feeling for a little bit here. We understand that we're competing against good teams. We knew that teams had games in hand on us for a little bit here, too. I think that sense has been there and now it's up to us.
"I really think it's important that you enjoy this. You can get stressed out about it. You can feel pressure. This is why you play, to play in meaningful games. You wish sometimes it was a little bit easier, that we made it a little bit easier on ourselves, but the bottom line is we're in the thick of it here and we have a chance to show what we can do from here on out and that's when it matters."
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The update on forward Nikita Soshnikov is ... nothing.
Not yet anyway.
Soshnikov, acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs on Feb. 15 for a fourth-round pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, has yet made his way to St. Louis because the Blues are working on finalizing his work visa issues from Canada to the United States.
At the time of the trade, the Blues said it would take 7-10 days to complete, and today is the eighth day.
Yeo was hopeful that Soshnikov, 24, would be here today but that hasn't happened yet.
"No. We'll just keep waiting until he gets here but should be here soon," Yeo said. "... I think he's going to be here soon. Just waiting for final confirmation."
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With Blues defenseman Robert Bortuzzo (left knee injury) going on injured reserve Thursday, there was some question whether this would be some sort of long term injury.
"I wouldn't say a longer term," Yeo said. "I don't see him playing Sunday (at Nashville), and really all that meant was that he was going to be out for today's game. So we'll keep playing it by ear."
Bortuzzo, who's played in a career-high 55 games this season with one goal and seven assists, was hurt late in the second period of a 2-1 loss at Dallas Feb. 16.
For the time being, the Blues will carry just the six defensemen.
"Definitely we can (manage it)," Yeo said. "We still have capable guys."
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The Blues will start Jake Allen in goal against the Jets.
Allen is 2-11-0 his past 13 decisions, but one of those wins was at Winnipeg two weeks ago, 5-2. However, in those 11 losses, the Blues have scored a grand total of 16 goals, or 1.45 goals per game.
"I think he has a chance to do what he did last year for us," Yeo said of starting Allen. "I think when things mattered most he played his best hockey. He got into a rhythm that was right at this time of year (last season) and so what better time to try to get something like that going right now."
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The Blues' projected lineup:
Alexander Steen-Paul Stastny-Vladimir Tarasenko
Jaden Schwartz-Brayden Schenn-Patrik Berglund
Ivan Barbashev-Vladimir Sobotka-Dmitrij Jaskin
Scottie Upshall-Kyle Brodziak-Chris Thorburn
Carl Gunnarsson-Alex Pietrangelo
Jay Bouwmeester-Colton Parayko
Chris Butler-Vince Dunn
Jake Allen will start in goal; Carter Hutton will be the backup.
The healthy scratch is Oskar Sundqvist. Joel Edmundson (forearm), Robert Bortuzzo (knee) and Sammy Blais (concussion) are out. Robby Fabbri (knee) is out for the season.
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The Jets' projected lineup:
Kyle Connor-Mark Scheifele-Blake Wheeler
Mathieu Perreault-Bryan Little-Jack Roslovic
Nikolaj Ehlers-Andrew Copp-Patrik Laine
Nic Petan-Matt Hendricks-Joel Armia
Toby Enstrom-Dustin Byfuglien
Josh Morrissey-Tyler Myers
Ben Chiarot-Dmitry Kulikov
Connor Hellebuyck will start in goal; Michael Hutchinson will be the backup.
Healthy scratches include Tucker Poolman and Marko Dano. Shawn Matthias (upper body), Steve Mason (concussion), Jacob Trouba (ankle), Adam Lowry (upper body) and Brandon Tanev (upper body) are all out.
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