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head coach: Joel Quenneville

roster: C - Pierre Turgeon, Darren Turcotte, Craig Conroy, Pascal Rheaume, Mike Eastwood; LW - Geoff Courtnall, Tony Twist, Pavol Demitra, Scott Pellerin, Michel Picard; RW - Brett Hull, Jim Campbell, Kelly Chase, Terry Yake, Blair Atcheynum; D - Al MacInnis, Chris Pronger, Steve Duchesne, Marc Bergevin, Chris McAlpine, Jamie Rivers, Ricard Persson, Todd Gill, Rudy Poeschek; G - Grant Fuhr, Jamie McLennan, Brent Johnson.

injuries: None.

transactions: April 8 - Sent Chris Kenady, rw, to Worcester (AHL); recalled Brent Johnson, g, from Worcester; April 16 - reassigned Jan Horacek, d, to Worcester from juniors.

standings:

Western Conference - Central Division
Team         GP   W   L   T   PTS   GF   GA   
p-Dallas     82  49  22  11   109  242  167  
x-Detroit    82  44  23  15   103  250  196  
x-St Louis   82  45  29   8    98  256  204  
x-Phoenix    82  35  35  12    82  224  227  
Chicago      82  30  39  13    73  192  199  
Toronto      82  30  43   9    69  194  237  

x - Clinched playoff spot
p - Clinched President's Trophy

game results:

4/07 at Detroit      L 5-3
4/09 Chicago         W 3-2
4/11 Phoenix         L 4-3
4/12 at Dallas       L 4-3
4/16 at Los Angeles  W 7-3
4/18 at Phoenix      W 5-4
4/19 at Anaheim      W 5-3

team news:

by Tom Cooper, St. Louis Correspondent

Preparing for the real season

Having a playoff spot clinched and the fourth seed in the ex-Campbell Conference locked up for the past eternity, the St. Louis Blues could have sat back on their laurels and waited for the playoffs to come to them. Instead, they went for the playoffs, trying to build moment going into the postseason to win the franchise's first Stanley Cup in its history.

The Blues finished up the 1997-1998 regular season with a stretch of seven games in 12 days to get themselves ready for a first-round meeting with the Los Angeles Kings, a meeting that has been long arranged, even longer than some Middle East arranged marriages.

Those damn Red Wings

The Blues started their drive to the end of the season with a meeting against the Detroit Communists... I mean Red Wings, on National Hockey Night. The Blues and the Bolsheviks... I mean Detroit, have met in the last two playoff seasons, making this a possible and likely precursor for a conference semi-final series.

Showing off next year's uniforms for the first time to a national audience, the Blues quickly lit the scoreboard first when Craig Conroy, after being knocked to the ice only a few seconds earlier, scored unassisted only 1:58 in to give St. Louis an early 1-0 lead. Kirk Maltby brought the score back level when he tallied on the power play 4:20 after Conroy's goal to make the score 1-1. The Blues and Wings played an even second, but a Slava Kozlov shot with under a second left in the frame got past Grant Fuhr to give Detroit a 2-1 advantage going into the dressing room.

"It was a big goal because there wasn't much happening in the second period," Detroit coach Scotty Bowman said. "We couldn't penetrate the zone, and neither could they."

The Blues returned the favor when, on a two-man advantage, Al MacInnis blasted a shot from the circle to tie the score at 2-2. About five minutes after Red Wing Martin LaPointe scored to give the lead back to Detroit, Pierre Turgeon's goal tied the score at 3-3. Assisting on the Turgeon goal was Al MacInnis, who, with that helper, picked up his 1000th career point.

"I'm fortunate to have played with some great teams and players in my career," MacInnis said. "It's a milestone I never thought I'd reach, but it's over now. It's time to go on to the playoffs."

Both St. Louis and Detroit were battling back and forth to take a late- contest lead, but, with 2:06 left, it was Detroit that picked up the needed goal when Kris Draper scored on a three-man break for a 4-3 advantage. Steve Yzerman added an empty-netter to give Detroit a 5-3 victory.

The loss practically eliminated St. Louis from moving up in the playoff seedings, but finishing fourth won't disappoint the team.

"We're pretty well locked into that fourth slot," Blues coach Joel Quenneville said. "We want to use the last few games to generate some enthusiasm and confidence going into the playoffs."

Destroying Hawks' Dreams

Serving as consolation for the loss to Detroit was the fact that Pavol Demitra was going to play for the Blues for the first time in a month...and he contributed right away.

"He's right back at it," teammate Craig Conroy said. "He doesn't miss a beat, that guy. He's going to be a big factor in the playoffs for us."

After doctors removed the wires on his jaw, Demitra assisted on two St. Louis goals as they downed Chicago 3-2, giving the Blues momentum and helping the Blackhawks move one step closer to missing the playoffs for the first time since Richard Nixon had a chance to screw with America.

The scoring commenced when Chris McAlpine was aided by Brett Hull and Pierre Turgeon to give the Blues a 1-0 lead 14 minutes into the first. Craig Conroy added to the advantage when Demitra and McAlpine assisted him to give St. Louis a 2-0 lead 5:52 into the second. But Chicago started to fight for their post-season lives as Eric Daze tallied his 31st goal of the season to narrow the deficit to 2-1. But then, the trading deadline move that hadn't offensively paid off so far, finally did.

Mike Eastwood, acquired from the Rangers on March 24, scored his first goal wearing the Bluenote as he put St. Louis up for good at 3-1. Mr. High-crosscheck himself, Gary Suter, scored 57 seconds into the third, but St. Louis netminder Jamie McLennan slammed the door shut on a 3-2 St. Louis victory.

...And They Were Hungry Like The Coyote?

It has been a banner year for the Blues, especially at the Kiel Center.

The Blues have earned 57 of their 98 points at home, fourth best in the NHL. This exceptional play has prompted fans to go out and enjoy Blues hockey in person, giving St. Louis 22 sellouts going into the final home game of the regular season against Phoenix. 20,063 fans rewarded the Blues with their 23rd full house of the season, but the team couldn't reward the fans as they ran into a Phoenix team that was playing for their playoff lives.

The home crowd was silenced early when Cliff Ronning scored only 40 seconds in to give Phoenix a quick 1-0 lead. Coyote tough guy Rick Tocchet, finally being allowed to play in a game, kneed somebody (Just kidding!). Tocchet scored over 12 minutes later to give Phoenix a 2-0 lead and command of the hockey game.

But, the Blues fought back, in particular, Todd Gill.

The former San Jose Shark scored twice in the final six minutes of the first to tie the score at 2-2 going into the dressing room.

Jamie McLennan started the second because Grant Fuhr bruised his right knee during the first, and his team decided to give him a little bit of help as Pascal Rheaume scored 6:43 into the second to give St. Louis 3-2 lead. But that would be the end of the Blues' chances on that night.

Only 3:15 later, Cliff Ronning netted his second goal of the contest on the power play to tie the score at 3-3, but Mike Stapleton ended the deadlock with 3:27 left in the second to give Phoenix the lead for good. The Blues tried to score, but every single one of the 13 shots they fired at Phoenix goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin was turned aside as Phoenix earned a 4-3 victory.

For the Blues, head coach Joel Quenneville felt as if his team played with little effort or purpose.

"They came at us good and we didn't anticipate that team would work as hard as it did," Quenneville said.

Taking on the Best

With the home schedule completed for the 1997-98 regular season, the embarked on a four-game road swing to end their season. Game one of the swing saw the Blues travel to Dallas to take on the Stars, who were looking to wrap up the President's Trophy for the regular season's best record.

After a scoreless first period, Dallas helped its cause by jumping on the board only :41 into the second. Greg Adams and Pat Verbeek set up Joe Nieuwendyk's power-play goal to give Dallas a 1-0 lead. The Stars tallied again about 10 minutes later as Sergei Zubov scored once again on the man advantage for a 2-0 lead. The Blues finally got on the board with only 13 seconds remaining in the middle stanza to narrow the gap to 2-1 after 40 minutes.

The Blues began the third with a goal just 42 seconds in when Steve Duchense scored on the power play to tie the score at 2-2. But Dallas acted like the best team in the NHL and put the game out of reach.

Pat Verbeek and recently-acquired Mike Keane scored to give Dallas a 4-2 victory. The Blues tried to fight back and picked up a shorthanded goal by Pavol Demitra with 6:38 left, but the St. Louis offense, which outshot Dallas 28-14, was kept off of the board by Dallas goalie Ed Belfour, giving the Stars a 4-3 victory and moving them one step closer to the President's Trophy.

Even though the Blues have dropped three of the last four games, they feel they are still working to better themselves before the playoffs.

"We checked well, came from behind and kept ourselves in the game," Quenneville said. "Our guys battled hard right to the end, which is something we've done all year."

Sending a message

With the team not winning and needing a boost to get back on track, what would be a better remedy to the situation then playing the team you will meet in the first round of the playoffs?

Well, I can't think of any.

In an effort to get St. Louis a win, the NHL schedulemakers decided to give them a matchup against Los Angeles so that the Blues would have a reason to play - to send a message to their playoff foe.

And boy did they send a message.

Chris Pronger was the first Blue to play messenger. He scored 5:47 into the ordeal to give St. Louis a 1-0 and kick off a three-goal, first period party. Pierre Turgeon and Craig Conroy joined the kegger to put St. Louis up by a field goal after 20 minutes. Geoff Courtnall pushed the lead to 4-0 before Rob Blake put the Kings on the board.

Blues Darren Turcotte added two and Conroy got one more score to give St. Louis a 7-3 win, making this game one hell of a message.

"It's going to be a war," Conroy said. "Everybody wanted to prove something tonight. It was a statement game. We're trying to tell them we're not going to take them lightly and they're telling us they're not going to back down."

And the statement was passed on in the form of 12 fighting majors, two by Geoff Courtnall and Kings' defenseman Rob Blake, and four game misconducts.

And do you know what the amazing thing was?

Tony Twist didn't get any of those penalties!!! He served a penalty for Jim Campbell, who got tossed!!!

What are we paying you for, Tony?

Payback's a Female Dog

After being beaten in front of their own fans exactly one week earlier, the Blues traveled to the giant sand bunker that is Phoenix to return the favor. But, at the beginning, it didn't look as if that revenge would be exacted.

Phoenix jumped out to a 2-0 in the first, thanks to goals by Oleg Tverdovsky and Jim McKenzie that came 10 seconds apart. The Blues got on the board just over 12 minutes in when snipper Tony Twist scored.

"Tony Twist???" you may ask. Yes, Tony Twist.

Twist picked up his first goal since January 7, 1997 to narrow the debt to 2-1. The 90-game drought was the longest by an NHL forward.

Todd Gill got things back to normal as he scored to tie the game at 2-2, but Mike Stapleton, not to be confused with Jean Stapleton who played Edith Bunker on "All in the Family," scored with just over a minute left to send the Coyotes to the locker room with a 3-2 lead.

After 12:18 of scoreless hockey in the second, Pierre Turgeon scored, and, only 27 seconds later, Kelly Chase, another tough guy turned scorer, lit the red lamp to give the Blues a 4-3 lead. But Mark Janssens scored to tie the score at 4-4 and left the outcome of the game in doubt as the two clubs went to their locker rooms.

The doubt started to disappear as Pavol Demitra scored 4:55 into the third and Grant Fuhr stopped all seven of Phoenix's shots in the third to give the Blues a 5-4 win.

The 82nd, and Final Chapter

Looking to improve upon a two-game winning streak, the Blues traveled to Anaheim to take on the Mighty Ducks of that city in the final game of the regular season. It was a game that meant nothing in the standings, but could have meant a lot in terms of morale, momentum, and contract bonuses.

Duck defenseman Mike Crowley was the first to show that he wanted to win the meaningless contest by putting the biscut in the 6' by 4" basket with 2:40 left in the first. Michel "Jean-Luc" Picard wanted to tie the game, and he made it so 7:23 into the second term. The mighty Travis Green of Anaheim gave the lead back to Anaheim, but Chris Pronger and Pierre Turgeon stopped the Anaheim fun to make it 3-2 after 40 minutes of play.

St. Louis never looked back as Pavol Demitra scored his third goal in four games to put St. Louis up by two. Anaheim wing Jeff Nielsen made it close by scoring with only 2:50 left, but Brett Hull scored into an empty net to end Hull's goal-less streak at 10 games and give the Blues' a 5-3 win, closing the season on a high mark.

Now, everything counts

What a season!

The 1997-1998 regular season was supposed to be a year in which the St. Louis Blues play a small role and were supposed to barely make the playoffs.

Good thing the critics aren't always right.

The Blues finished the season with a record of 44-29-8 for 98 points, third best in the Western Conference and fifth in the NHL. The secret to Blues success is what it always has been - scoring. St. Louis led the league with 251 goals, the most since the 1993-1994 campaign, and yielded only 201 goals, the fewest allowed in a full season since letting in 179 goals in 76 games back in 1969-1970, the last year the Blues went to the Stanley Cup Finals.

The 98 points is the first time the Blues have topped the 90-point plataeu since 1993-1994, and is the club's highest point total since earning 105 points in 1990-1991. All of these facts, indicates that this could be the year the Blues make a serious run for the Cup.

But, here's one more thing. Look at these records:

Dallas Stars       4-2-0
Colorado Avalanche 1-2-1
Detroit Red Wings  3-2-1
Los Angeles Kings  3-0-1

St. Louis has a winning record against every one of these potential playoff foes, except for Colorado, but if Edmonton doesn't upset them, Detroit will most likely knock the Avalanche out of the picture.

By just looking at these records, every Blues fan has to be excited about this season being the year Lord Stanley's Cup travels to the Gateway to the West.

And don't forget, this is a contract year for Geoff Courtnall, Steve Duchense, Brett Hull and Al MacInnis. In order to impress possible suitors, this is the time of the year when play needs to improve so that big bucks can start flowing the way of free agents. There is no doubt the Blues will play a large role in this year's Stanley Cup Playoffs, but how big of a role that is will be decided in time.

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