Three Periods: Blues seek playoff breakthrough; GMs on Crosby, Kane & Calgary; NHL notes

Nicholas J. Cotsonika’s Three Periods column appears on Thursdays. This week’s topics include the St. Louis Blues’ surge in the Central, the Chicago Blackhawks’ success without Patrick Kane, Sidney Crosby’s “perfect” play recently, the Calgary Flames’ loss of Mark Giordano, the Detroit Red Wings’ long look at Marek Zidlicky, the Boston Bruins’ less-than-stellar season and notes from the GMs’ meetings this week.

FIRST PERIOD: Armstrong thinks Blues are ready to take next step in playoffs

The St. Louis Blues have overtaken the Nashville Predators for the Central Division lead. That seems important for one simple reason: They wouldn’t face the Chicago Blackhawks in the first round if the playoffs started today.

Looking back at the last three years, the Blues have been burned by bad matchups. In 2012, they lost in the second round to the Los Angeles Kings, the eventual Stanley Cup champions. In 2013, they lost in the first round to the Kings, the defending champions. Last year, they lost in the first round to the Blackhawks, the defending champs.

But here’s the thing: In 2012, the Blues finished first in the Central and second in the West. The Kings were an eighth seed. Who knew what the Kings would become? Who knows how good the wild cards might turn out to be this year? And now that the NHL has gone back to a divisional playoff format, the Blues might have to face the Blackhawks in the second round, anyway.

“I don’t really look at the matchups,” said general manager Doug Armstrong. “If you want to be considered a champion or become a champion, you have to beat all comers. Everyone would win a lot of championships if they could pick who they wanted to play. So I just think we’re in that window now where we take pride in being viewed from the outside, from other people, as a team that can compete to win. Now we just have to get to that time of year.”

What Armstrong cares most about right now is staying healthy, playing well and earning home ice for as long as possible in the playoffs. Last year, the Blues had the best record in the NHL as late as April 5, but they suffered a rash of injuries and lost their last six games. They lost the Central by a point and faced the Blackhawks in the first round. Even though they won their first two games, they weren’t the same team they had been. They lost four straight.

The Blues added Jori Lehtera and Paul Stastny in the off-season, and they have seen Jaden Schwartz and Vladimir Tarasenko mature and improve. They have remained one of the NHL’s best possession and defensive teams, but now they have more firepower up front.

“You change the complexion of your team,” Armstrong said. “At the end of the day, what wins in the playoffs is a strong defending game and timely goals. I think defending was never an issue. We maybe didn’t get the timely goals. Hopefully we have more guys that can add into that area.”

The Blues have been the best road team in the NHL since Jan. 1 (.781 points percentage). They have been the second-best team in the league overall during the same period (.727), behind the New York Rangers. They have had the second-best penalty kill (88.4 percent) over the same period, behind the Minnesota Wild.

Armstrong made more tweaks at the trade deadline, adding Robert Bortuzzo, Olli Jokinen and Zbynek Michalek. The Blues have looked especially good lately. They entered Thursday night’s game against the Winnipeg Jets on a 5-0-1 run with three shutout wins in their last four games – two for Brian Elliott, one for Jake Allen.

The Blues are 4-12 in their last 16 playoff games and have blown 2-0 leads in the first round in back-to-back years. It’s time to get over the hump.

“Quite honestly,” Armstrong said, “we’ve won the first two games in our last two series and haven’t closed them out. We haven’t won a road playoff game in two years. You can’t be a championship-caliber team unless you can win in hostile environments. These are things that are reality that we have to overcome and we have to learn from, and I think we’re going to do that, too. I’m really excited about this group.”

SECOND PERIOD: Blackhawks move on without Kane; Crosby’s ‘perfect’

— The Chicago Blackhawks have gone 7-1-1 since losing Patrick Kane to a broken collarbone. Kane was leading the NHL in scoring at the time, but the Blackhawks are ridiculously deep. “We haven’t had any discussions on, ‘Oh, boy, what are we going to do?’ ” said GM Stan Bowman. “You’ve still got to play games, and we’ve still got to find a way to win, and we focused our efforts on that. He’s a huge part of our team and what we’ve accomplished to date, but sometimes when guys get injured, the rest of the team can pick up the slack.”

— Kimmo Timonen hadn’t played all season because of blood clots when the Blackhawks acquired him from the Philadelphia Flyers, and he turned 40 on Wednesday. Not exactly the ideal conditions for a defenseman to break in with a new team down the stretch. “I think what’s gotten him through it is that he’s a very intelligent player,” Bowman said. “He understands how to play. He’s not really where he wants to be in terms of the speed of the game. That’s going to come, but that’s only going to come through playing. So I think he’s been fine. He hasn’t been out of place. I think he knows that as he gets more acclimated, he’ll be even better.”

— Bowman raved about Antoine Vermette, who has solidified second-line center since the Blackhawks acquired him from the Arizona Coyotes. Vermette plays well at both ends of the ice. He wins faceoffs. Coach Joel Quenneville now has another player capable of handling top opponents. “We’ve got some centers with experience who can match up in different ways and give us that strength down the middle that we probably haven’t had in a long time,” Bowman said.

— Sidney Crosby is on pace for 27 goals and 83 points in 77 games, and he has never had fewer than 33 goals or 102 points when he has played at least 77 games. But with 71 points, he’s only one point off the NHL scoring lead entering Thursday night. He had bad luck around the net early in the season. He has played with different wingers throughout the season. The Pittsburgh Penguins have a new coach in Mike Johnston, who wants him to come back deep in the defensive zone, unlike Dan Bylsma, who liked the stretch pass. “It’s total nitpicking, because there’s nothing wrong with him,” said GM Jim Rutherford. “His play, to me, has been as good as it’s ever been, especially over the last month or so.” Rutherford said Crosby was “perfect” on a recent swing through California: “He played the way that we need to play to win and be a good playoff team.”

— The Calgary Flames continued to defy the odds for a while after losing Mark Giordano, a top candidate to win the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s best defenseman. They went 5-1-1 in their first seven games without him. “You go through a grieving period when you lose a player like that,” said GM Brad Treliving. “Even when we lost him, what I didn’t question was whether there was going to be a resolve, whether this was going to be a resilient group, because that’s just what they are. Now whether we were going to have enough. That was the question.” It still is. This is a team that hasn’t had the puck much all season and doesn’t have Giordano now. The Flames have lost back-to-back games in regulation and sit outside of the playoff picture entering Thursday night. “I do know our team will continue to battle and continue to compete,” Treliving said. “They’re gonna be in the fight. You just hope when it all ends they’re above the line.”

— The Detroit Red Wings had an eye on Marek Zidlicky for a decade before they acquired him at the trade deadline. GM Ken Holland was part of Canada’s management group for the 2005 world championship. Canada lost to the Czech Republic. Jiri Fischer, then a Wings defenseman, now director of player development, was Zidlicky’s partner. “We’ve always been kind of watching from afar to see if Zidlicky would hit the open market,” Holland said. The Wings finally got him with his contract about to expire. Would they like to sign him? He’s 38. But he’s a right-handed shot who quarterbacks the power play and fits their skilled style – just what they have needed. So far, Holland said, “he’s been a perfect fit.”

— The Boston Bruins won the Cup in 2011. They went back to the final in 2013. They won the Presidents’ Trophy last season. Now they hold the last wild-card spot in the East. “We haven’t played to the level that we expect or the public expects,” said GM Peter Chiarelli. The positive spin: Some of this has been due to injuries, and that has given younger players opportunities. The Bruins went on an 8-0-1 run before losing their last two games (one in overtime). Center David Krejci should return soon. “It hasn’t been a stellar year, but I still believe in the team,” Chiarelli said. “You get on a roll, you get in and anything can happen.”

THIRD PERIOD: Notes from the GMs’ meetings in Boca Raton, Fla.

— The idea of 3-on-3 overtime has sparked debate between the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association. If the NHL extends OT to seven minutes and goes to 3-on-3 at the first whistle after the three-minute mark, the NHLPA wonders if that will put more stress on top players. The NHL counters that top players will have more opportunities to produce points and goaltenders will feel less stress with fewer shootouts. The NHLPA counters that goaltenders would face more shots and allow more goals, affecting their statistics.

— Credit Carolina Hurricanes GM Ron Francis with a smart, subtle recommendation: Make the defensive center put down his stick first on faceoffs. The rule would apply everywhere but center ice. “Obviously as a former centerman, you always feel you have a little more of an advantage if you can get in there second,” said Colorado Avalanche GM Joe Sakic. “To try and help the offense, why not try it? I think it’s a good idea.”

— NHL disciplinarian Stephane Quintal suspended the New York Islanders’ Matt Martin for one game for kneeing the Dallas Stars’ Trevor Daley earlier this month. He said he might have fined Martin for the same infraction in the past, but he suspended him because he had made a presentation on kneeing to the GMs in November and put an emphasis on it. “There were less knee-on-knee impacts after that,” Quintal said.

— Quintal reinforced his stance on hits from behind to the GMs this week. If your opponent turns his back on you at the last second, that doesn’t mean you can run him as hard as you can. “If you get some time to react, you need to do so,” he said. “I am not asking the players to avoid the impact but to find a way to minimize it. If the replay shows us that an attempt was made or that there was absolutely no time to react, we will take that into consideration.”

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