ST. LOUIS — At one end of the St. Louis Blues’ locker room, captain Brayden Schenn was smiling and talking about facing his older brother in the first round of the NHL playoffs.
In another area of the room, Cam Fowler was chatting about what it’s like to be back in the postseason for the first time since 2017 with the Anaheim Ducks.
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Then there was Pavel Buchnevich discussing why the Blues are going to be a tough team to face.
And you had Jimmy Snuggerud sending text messages to his mom and dad after his first NHL goal.
On Nov. 23, when the Blues fired Drew Bannister and replaced him with Jim Montgomery, or on Feb. 21, when the Blues were eight points out of a wild-card spot in the Western Conference, who would’ve ever thought that this would be the scene after Game No. 82?
The Blues needed a regulation win over the Utah Hockey Club Tuesday to not only end a two-year playoff drought, but to preserve the faith in general manager Doug Armstrong’s retool, and they accomplished both with a 6-1 trouncing of their Central Division nemesis.
They are the No. 2 wild card in the West and will open the postseason against the Winnipeg Jets. The dates and times for the best-of-seven series have not been officially announced, but regardless, the Blues are in.
“I don’t think anyone gave us a chance really, where we were,” Schenn said. “I’m glad we came, kept it together. There are too many good pieces in this locker room to not get in the playoffs. We felt if we played hard for one another, we can get the job done, and it just took 82 games.”
NEXT STOP: PLAYOFFS!! #stlblues pic.twitter.com/cSJOlcyZZf
— x – St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) April 16, 2025
It took 82 games, a lot of belief, many difficult decisions, and ultimately, togetherness.
The Blues were 9-12-1 under former coach Drew Bannister when he was fired in November, and replaced by Jim Montgomery. They finished the regular season 35-18-7 under Montgomery for a .642 points percentage, which was eighth-best in the NHL in that stretch.
Schenn has been asked countless questions about Montgomery in the past few months, and when prodded for the No. 1 attribute the coach brought to the organization, he couldn’t do it.
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“I can’t give you one thing, but presence and communication and care for his players,” Schenn said. “Guys feel that. Guys are adults, and guys aren’t fooled by if a coach cares about his players or not. He truly does, and he’s great with everyone. He has humor with them, and communication with his old guys and his young guys. He’s got a lot of good hockey out of a lot of guys.”
There’s Jordan Kyrou, who scored two goals against Utah to finish with a team-high 36 this season. There’s Robert Thomas, who netted two assists to end the season with 60 assists, 81 points, and on a 12-game point streak. There’s Buchnevich, who overcame a slow offensive start to reach the 20-goal plateau. There’s Fowler, who had nine goals and 36 points in 51 games after coming over in a trade from Anaheim.
And so many more.
“(Montgomery) brought a system, positivity, always great to be around, believing in you, how (if) you’re a good player, let you do stuff in the offensive zone,” Buchnevich said. “Everybody was super-pumped — ‘Monty’s coming!’ Half of the team knows him from previous work here, and how good he is as a coach and an even better person.”
But it would require a lot more than good coaching for the Blues to climb out of the hole they were in after the 4 Nations Face-Off in February. The club was eight points back of the Vancouver Canucks for the No. 2 wild-card spot (63-55).
It would take individuals coming together as a team, which is what eventually transpired.
“Great leadership, led by our captain (Schenn),” Montgomery said. “I thought consistency by the staff and the players with our communication. I just thought that we grew so much culturally and in our team identity. Selfless, sacrifice, love.”
After the break, the Blues went 19-4-3 in their final 26 games — the most points (41) and best points percentage (.788) in the NHL in that span.
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“It’s something we’ve been trying to do for a couple of years now,” Schenn said. “When you start winning hockey games, you actually start getting more individual results, and guys feel better about themselves individually and about the team. It’s just a mindset that you have to come in and play for a team and good things happen when you do that.”
It wasn’t just Schenn.
“We have five guys who have won a (Stanley) Cup here,” Montgomery said, also referring to Colton Parayko, Jordan Binnington, Oskar Sundqvist and Thomas. “We have a lot of guys that have come from other organizations that are glue guys, and then you have young guys that come here and all they know in the NHL is being a Blue. I think when you combine all that together, there’s a lot of guys that take pride in representing this city.”
One of those young guys is Zack Bolduc, 22, who scored his 19th goal of the season in the finale. Another is Snuggerud, 20, who, two weeks after playing with the University of Minnesota in the NCAA Tournament, recorded his first NHL goal Tuesday. He had 66 goals in three seasons with the Golden Gophers, but called Tuesday’s with the Blues No. 1 on his career list, and said he got chills when the crowd cheered.
“It’s a special moment,” Snuggerud said. “I’ve heard so many good things about St. Louis, and it’s even topped that. They made me a part of the team, and it’s really special. It’s just a good time to be a St. Louis Blue.”
Teach me how to Snuggy. #stlblues pic.twitter.com/BYXZpyW8Ce
— x – St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) April 16, 2025
It’s also a good time to be living with Schenn.
“I told Snuggy, ‘If we win tonight and you score a goal, I owe you a Wagyu steak.’ So I’ll be heading to the grocery store tomorrow,” Schenn said.
Will Snuggerud be taking Schenn up on that?
“Yeah, for sure,” he said.
The Blues spent Tuesday night celebrating, and they’ll be off Wednesday before they start preparing for Winnipeg on Thursday. The Jets won the Presidents’ Trophy for the most points in the league this season (114), and just won, 3-1, over the Blues last week.
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But Buchnevich, for one, believes the Blues will be a “hard out” in the postseason.
“I just think anybody who makes the playoffs, they deserve to be,” he said. “All teams are good, and we’re one of them. We’ve got some streak going, like 12 games in a row winning, and making noise in the league. I feel like some teams are scared of us, which is a good sign that we’re a good team, too.”
Fowler, who hasn’t been in the NHL playoffs for the last seven seasons, is ready like the rest of his new teammates.
“We all want to have the opportunity to compete for the Stanley Cup, and that’s what we’ve been fighting for as a team,” Fowler said. “I’m happy to have that opportunity just like everybody else. We’ve worked really hard for this, the last couple months especially. Now we just have to settle in here the next few days and get ready for a pretty big challenge.”
For Schenn, 33, it’ll mean going up against Luke Schenn, 35, who began the season with the Nashville Predators before a trade to the Pittsburgh Penguins and another deal to Winnipeg.
“It’s a weird situation,” Schenn said. “You never really expect it with all the teams in the league and where he was at the start of the year, and here we are — St. Louis facing Winnipeg. We’ve been through a lot, both of us throughout our careers, and this one just adds to it. We’re both physical guys and we both play physical in the playoffs, so anything can happen. We might get some screaming by mom and dad if we go too hard.”
The Schenns talk almost every day, but may have to cut off that communication soon.
“I guess we’ll have to figure that out in the next four days,” Schenn said.
In the meantime, following months in which it didn’t look like the team would even make the playoffs, Buchnevich said the rookie, Snuggerud, summarized it best: “Like Snuggy says, ‘It’s a good time to be a St. Louis Blue.”
(Photo of Brayden Schenn celebrating his first-period goal with Colton Parayko: Jeff Le / Imagn Images)
This news was originally published on this post .
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