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As Blues coach Jim Montgomery noted Tuesday night, his team's young nucleus would reap benefits from its playoff push for years to come.

Players like Jake Neighbours, Zack Bolduc, Tyler Tucker, Jimmy Snuggerud and Dalibor Dvorsky gained invaluable experience during the group's success. This is what winning hockey feels like on the ice and in the dressing room.

Other still-evolving teams gained the same benefit with the late-season push. The Calgary Flames fell just short of reaching the Western Conference bracket, but they developed a competitive team persona with their impressive late push.

“I'm sure everybody was saying, it's 'sad, disappointing and whatnot,’ but for me it was, ‘what a hell of a fight,’ � defenseman MacKenzie Weegar told reporters. “It just says a lot about the culture and the identity here. I think for next year it kind of sets us up to have higher standards and higher expectations. When expectations were low, we proved people wrong, we did the right thing.

“Nobody thought we could have done this this year. Well, next year, people know that we can do this. That's what I want here, I want the high expectations. I want people to think that we're going to be in the playoffs. There's a lot of good things that happened this year, and we took a lot of steps forward.�

The Columbus Blue Jackets and Montreal Canadiens could say the same after fighting to the end in the Eastern Conference. Ultimately the Canadiens earned the final playoff spot on the second-to-last day of the season.

Montreal sat near the NHL’s basement at 8-13-3 back on Dec. 1. The Canadiens seemed doomed to their fourth straight eighth-place finish in the Atlantic Division.

And then they started pulling together.

“I'm just proud because it wasn't one year, it wasn't one team. This goes back three, four years of really grinding together,� Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher said. “I'm very happy for these guys that they're going to experience this city come playoff time.�

Like the Blues, the Canadiens became a different team coming out of the 4 Nations Face-Off break.

“I think we had a two per cent chance of making the playoffs and then we go 15-5-6 and we finish the year on a 7-1-2 run trying to stay ahead of Columbus, who was really hot down the stretch,â€� Canadiens coach Martin ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ said. “For me, a two per cent chance, you still have a chance.â€�

While the long-suffering Blue Jackets came up just short, they made tremendous strides this season with young talent base. Columbus achieved its first winning season since 2019-20.

“The team is feeding off each other,� Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason said. “They’re saying and doing the right things. It’s not an individual game, guys. It’s a team game and everybody is pulling in the same direction. They’re all on the same page.�

This sounds familiar, no? Expect all four of these teams to be a factor in next season's playoff chase as they carry this experience forward.

Here is what folks have been writing about hockey:

Dom Luszczyszyn, The Athletic: “Connor Hellebuyck is the luxury of all luxuries. If he’s dialed in, the Jets can beat anyone. What sets this version of the Jets apart though is that it’s not just Hellebuyck. Josh Morrissey is a perfect franchise defenseman, the team’s depth looks really strong and Dylan Samberg has stepped up as a shutdown force. Kyle Connor and Mark Scheifele have also elevated their games considerably this season, finally looking like the kind of one-two punch a team can win with. Add solid offensive efforts from Gabriel Vilardi and Nikolaj Ehlers, and the Jets look poised to go deep.�

Jason Bukala, Sportsnet: “After struggling to an 8-9-3 record to start the season the Bruins decided to make a coaching change. Jim Montgomery was replaced with interim head coach Joe Sacco on November 19. Montgomery wasn’t out of a job long. He was named head coach of the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Blues on November 25 and the former Jack Adams Award winner has done a wonderful job in ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ . . . The Bruins have gone 25-30-6 under Sacco, including a painful run of 11-15-4 in their last 30 games. To be fair to the coach, Boston decided to trade out several veterans at the deadline in March, which didn’t leave Sacco with as much to work with down the stretch run. Don Sweeney made the decision to get aggressive as a seller at the trade deadline. He moved out career Bruin and team captain Brad Marchand (Florida Panthers) as well as centres Charlie Coyle (Colorado Avalanche) and Trent Frederic (Edmonton Oilers). Defenceman Brandon Carlo was moved to the Toronto Maple Leafs and winger Justin Brazeau to the Minnesota Wild.â€�

Ryan S. Clark, : “The Flames made progress in more ways than one. They went from finishing with 81 points in 2023-24 to challenging for a playoff spot until the final week. But what might get lost is that they established an identity. Whether it be with their roster, their coaching staff or their front office, change has been a constant with the Flames for the last few seasons. This season saw them attain and then maintain a level of continuity that could see them contend for a playoff spot -- if not make the playoffs -- next season. Dustin Wolf was a revelation in goal, cementing his status as the Flames' No. 1 goalie moving forward, and making a Calder Trophy case.”

Chris Johnston, The Athletic: “The echoes of (Toronto-Ottawa) history will be felt in buildings formerly known as the Air Canada Centre and Corel Centre — since renamed Scotiabank Arena and Canadian Tire Centre. Swedish captains Mats Sundin and Daniel Alfredsson have been replaced on the ice by two Americans: Auston Matthews and Brady Tkachuk, who, like their predecessors, are good friends away from the rink. Alfredsson now stands behind the Senators bench as an assistant coach under Travis Green, who was on the Toronto side in the 2002 Battle of Ontario. Tie Domi is one of four skaters to play in every previous playoff game between the teams, and today it’s his son, Max, flashing a gap-toothed grin in a Maple Leafs sweater. While the previous iteration of the rivalry heated to a boil with the quick succession of playoff meetings, the one thing that should be present right from the start of the redux is an added layer of intensity around the games. It’s only a four-hour drive between the arenas each team calls home. There will be plenty of fans behind enemy lines. There’s a strong turnout of blue-and-white sweaters for every game played in Ottawa, and as much as the Senators will work to get the tickets into the hands of their own fans, there are limits to how effective those measures can be.�

Barry Petchesky, The Defector: “Objectively speaking, the Minnesota Wild's final regular-season game against the Ducks Tuesday was a crucial one. They needed to gain a single standings point, by hook or by crook, to clinch one of the West's suddenly competitive wild card spots. The Blues won their game, clinching their own spot, and a regulation loss for the Wild would've left their fate in the hands of the pursuing Flames, who have one more game left. Subjectively speaking, it was even more important for everyone involved that the Wild lock down that point so that Marc-Andre Fleury could get a proper home send-off. Fleury, 40 years old and playing his 21st and final season, has been on something of a farewell tour as Minnesota's backup. He's been honored in every city, and opponents have formed handshake signs just for him. He's a one-man NHL institution, the rare first-overall goaltender pick way back in 2003, and one of just two players left who played before the lockout. He's been a rock: second all-time in wins and games played. He won three Cups with the Penguins, though, for my money, his most impressive feat was having a career year at age 36 with Las Vegas, winning his first Vezina after most of his contemporaries had already hung up their pads. He's also (and this is a technical term) a good dude, beloved by teammates, fans, and media. He was never truly a dominant netminder, and I think that humanity only made him more endearing as he handled various goaltender controversies and benchings and one unceremonious Vegas eviction with nothing but equanimity.�

Megaphone

“It’s gonna be a bloodbath. Gonna be a little bit of a war. So, we’ll be ready. They’re a hungry team. They haven’t made the playoffs in (eight) years here. I just think we have to continue to do what we’re doing right now. I think we feel good about our game.�

Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz, on the Battle of Ontario.