ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½

About 11 hours before his Blues clinched a playoff spot with a 6-1 win over the Utah Hockey Club on Tuesday, coach Jim Montgomery delivered a succinct answer to a direct question.

From when he arrived in November until now, what were the biggest reasons why the Blues had a chance to make the postseason? He answered by saying four words: Togetherness. Sacrifice. Selfless. Love.

Those four qualities, characteristics, mantras, tenets drove the Blues through a 19-4-3 stretch to close the season after returning from the 4 Nations Face-Off break. They allowed ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ to erase an eight-point deficit in the standings in one month, then secure a playoff spot one month after that. They shaped Montgomery’s pregame speech to the Blues on Tuesday night, when a regulation win would be enough to send the Blues into the playoffs for the first time since 2022.

Blues captain Brayden Schenn said “all of it� was part of Montgomery’s message to the team before taking the ice Tuesday.

“The words, we all know what they mean,� Schenn said. “The last one, when you come to the rink and you love what you do, you love your teammates, you’re family. We’re together a lot throughout the year, and when you show that you care about the guy next to you, it goes a long way.�

The Blues exploded for four goals in the first period, scored three power-play goals overall and had seven players with multi-point nights to set up a date with league-leading Winnipeg in the first round. Pavel Buchnevich had a goal and two assists, Jordan Kyrou scored twice and Robert Thomas extended his point streak to 12 games with two assists.

Schenn, Jimmy Snuggerud and Zack Bolduc also scored while Jordan Binnington stopped 22 of the 23 shots he faced.

The Blues finished the season with a 44-30-8 record, accumulating 96 points and finishing in the second (and final) wild-card spot in the Western Conference. They will open the playoffs with Game 1 in Winnipeg, though the league has not announced when the series will start.

It looked like the Blues would be heading to Vegas as Minnesota trailed Anaheim late, but the Wild scored with 20.9 seconds remaining to force overtime and secure the top wild-card spot in the West and a matchup with the Golden Knights.

The Blues handled their own business just fine.

“We got back to who we are for 60 minutes,� Montgomery said. “In the first eight minutes, I knew we were going to win just by the way we were committed to playing north and playing to the goal line. I thought our forecheck was excellent. We made them defend.�

The win snapped a three-game losing streak that stunted the Blues’ chase for a playoff spot and clouded the shine of a franchise-record 12-game win streak that preceded it. But for so much of the past two months, things could not have been going better for the Blues.

At the 4 Nations break, the Blues were eight points behind Vancouver for the second wild-card spot. MoneyPuck put their playoff odds at 7.8%, with HockeyViz at 3.1% and The Athletic at 1.1%. In order to match Vancouver’s 94-point pace at the time, the Blues would have needed to go 19-6-1. They were being asked to play like a 123-point team, and they were asked to do so as the last team in the league to win three games in a row.

All the Blues did was play at a 129-point pace and post a plus-39 goal margin in 26 games.

“I don’t think anyone gave us a chance really, at the end of the day, where we were,� Schenn said. “I’m glad we kept it together. Too many good pieces in this locker room not to get in the playoffs. We felt if we played hard for one another, we can get the job done. It just took 82 games.�

The potential potholes were all visible for the Blues.

Injuries to Colton Parayko (missed 19 games), Buchnevich (missed four games) and Dylan Holloway (missed the final five games of the regular season) could have derailed the Blues. Thomas even left Tuesday’s game with a lower-body injury, though Montgomery said after the game that the Blues “just took him out for precautionary reasons. I think he’s fine.�

The trade deadline, when Schenn’s name swirled in rumors, could have dismantled the group. Three games against Colorado turned into three wins over Colorado. Third-period comebacks in Nashville and against Detroit preserved the win streak. It’s led the Blues back to the playoffs for the first time in three years.

This Blues team has done exactly what general manager Doug Armstrong hoped they would do. It might have been a bit of a winding road to get there, but the Blues have accomplished the goal of returning to the playoffs while restocking their cupboards with developing young talent. The retool has officially taken a step forward, and it’s something Montgomery spotted after his first game with the Blues on Nov. 25 in New York.

“I saw how much depth of talent was here, and I thought if we can get to the right places in our habits and our game management that we would be able to do this,� Montgomery said. “But like I’ve said all along, it took longer than I expected.�

And maybe it got there with a dose of togetherness, sacrifice, selflessness and love.

“This is what you play for, this is what you train for in the summer,� Schenn said. “This is what you play for all year, to have a chance at the Stanley Cup and just have to get in and anything can happen. We saw that years ago, and we’ve been on a good run here. At the same time, just can’t be happy that we’re in and we’re playing Winnipeg.�