The Blues got back into a playoff spot for the first time since Feb. 24, pulling out a 2-1 win in Columbus on Saturday night behind a strong effort in goal by Jake Allen.
Alexander Steen and Vladimir Tarasenko scored for the Blues. Allen made 33 saves in allowing just one goal for the third straight game.
The win gives the Blues 89 points, putting them even with the Kings and Ducks. The Kings are currently third in the Pacific Division and the Ducks were in the second wild-card spot, but the Blues have more wins in regulation and overtime, the first tiebreaker (39-34). The Kings are in action later against Edmonton; if the Kings lose that game in regulation and get no points, the Ducks will move into third in the Pacific (based on having played fewer games) and the Kings will be tied with the Blues. The Blues will win that tiebreaker by having played fewer games than the Kings.
"I'm very pleased, very proud of the group. I know there's an awful lot of character inside our locker room and I love that it's on full display right now," Blues coach Mike Yeo said.
There's no guarantee the Blues' stay will be long. If the Kings win Saturday and Anaheim wins Sunday at Edmonton, the Blues would slip out again.
The Blues have won five in a row, their longest win streak of the season and have won seven of their past eight. Since their 8-3 thumping in Minnesota, the Blues are 8-2-1. They still probably have to go 4-3 the rest of the way to make the playoffs, but that number looks a whole lot better than it did a week ago. The Blues also ended Columbus' 10-game win streak.
The Blues are off until Tuesday when they play San Jose. They are one point behind Colorado, with the first wild-card spot, and one point behind Minnesota, which is in third in the Central.
The win was the 26th of the season for Allen and he is 7-1-0, with a 2.12 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage in his past eight starts. He had a great save in the first period on Markus Nuitvaara, who looked to have an open goal to shoot at but Allen, looking through traffic, got over to the other side and made a glove save.
"I think today he was the difference for us," forward Alexander Steen said. "He was tremendous."
The Blues got a goal from Steen three minutes into the game to take the lead and Vladimir Tarasenko scored in the second to make it 2-0, and that goal mattered when Columbus scored later that period.
Columbus had a four-minute power play in the third period when Patrik Berglund was called for a double minor for high sticking. A slashing call on Nick Foligno took two minutes out of the middle of it and then the Blues killed the rest.
