COLUMN: Blues must catch Kings to make playoffs

I have seen plenty of incredible finishes to hockey games so far in the 2023-24 St. Louis Blues season but nothing like how Monday's home game against the Edmonton Oilers.

Within mere seconds, Brandon Saad went from sitting on the bench to scoring the game-winning goal in overtime to give the Blues the 3-2 victory. It was his 25th goal of the season, a total he hasn't amassed since scoring a career-high 31 goals for Columbus in 2015-16.

“A really lucky bounce actually,” Saad said. “I thought I was back-checking there, kind of hit their d-man’s top of his stick and got a good break.”

With the win St. Louis continues to play playoff-worthy hockey down the stretch, having amassed 17 points over the past 11 games (8-2-1). Unfortunately for them, it has done little good in improving its position in the standings. The Blues are just three points behind the Los Angeles Kings for the second wild card in the Western Conference.

“We’re aware,” Blues goalie Jordan Binnington said. “But at the same time, if we don’t do our job, it doesn’t matter. That’s the mind game, and that’s how we’re channeling our focus right now.”

The Blues (40-31-4, 84 points) have seven games left in April to make up a two-game difference between them and the Kings be the music cuts off and they’re left without a chair.

As we enter the stretch, it's all about catching up to the Kings. Both the Nashville Predators and Vegas Golden Knights have 90 points and a 4-game deficit at this stage may be too far to catch up.

The Kings (38-25-11, 87 points) are only ahead of the Blues because they're better at losing. Unlike St. Louis, LA waits until the end of regulation to succumb to their opponents. The seven more overtime losses are the overwhelming difference between these two teams in the race.

The Kings have dropped 3-of-4 during their Canadian road trip to allow the Blues to gain some ground in the standings.

The Blues have five skaters with over 20 goals this season but with 51 assists to go with his 23 goals, Robert Thomas is the only St. Louis player with over 70 points. The Kings don't have a 70-point player but led by future legend Anze Kopitar, they have three players with 66 points.

Interestingly enough the Kings (17-11-7) have the same amount of wins at home as the Blues have on the road (17-18-2). After Wednesday's game against Seattle, five of their final seven games will be at home.

St. Louis, on the other hand, only has three home games left and will have to go to Nashville on Thursday, and to San Jose and Anaheim over the weekend before hosting Chicago, Carolina, and Seattle to close out the home slate.

Their final regular season game at Dallas on April 17 may decide whether or not the Blues make it to the playoffs.