Blues let up against Blackhawks with playoffs nearing? Not a chance

ST. LOUIS -- The last time the St. Louis Blues played the Chicago Blackhawks, it took two days to conquer the fatigue hangover.

"Both teams, absolutely in one hockey game, exhausted themselves," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said of last Sunday's 2-1 win in Chicago. "We didn't have much to start (Tuesday) against Winnipeg, and Chicago had less to start against Minnesota. That's how exhausting the games were."

With only two games left in the regular season and a playoff appearance secured, the Blues don't plan on holding back Thursday as they face their division rival. The Blackhawks are only three points behind the Blues in the standings, and with the Central Division title still up for grabs, so is home-ice advantage in the postseason. And boy, does Hitchcock want home-ice advantage.

"Home ice is important," he said. "That's the focus for the players. That's the focus for us."

It will come at a cost. Though always intense, the Blues' matchups against the Hawks have grown even more physical as the season has progressed. In the teams' first two meetings, the Blues delivered 21 hits per game. When they faced each other in February, that number grew to 30. Last Sunday, it hit 50. And the Blues plan to bring the series' usual spice Thursday.

"They're expecting us to be physical, and we're expecting to show that to them," said forward Steve Ott, who had eight hits in Sunday's game. "And that's something that, we want to be hard to play against, and when you're always waiting and expecting that, there's no choice but to give (that) to people that are waiting for it."

In fact, the playoff-bound Blues are prepared to play Thursday with the physicality of an elimination game. The NHL postseason is a grueling test of endurance, but for this club, there's no thought of conserving energy against a demanding opponent such as Chicago, even with the playoffs on the horizon.

"That's why we have the team depth that we do," Ott said. "There's no saving it for nothing. You keep going, you push through it, and you try to build something special right now with the confidence heading into the playoffs."

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Teammate Ryan Reaves agreed, insisting that the Blues can't pace themselves. He suggested the Blues taking their foot off the gas a little too early last year might have led to their six-game losing streak to end the regular season, before Chicago kicked them out of the playoffs in the first round.

"Last year, I think the last six games, we went on that slide because we thought we could just float into the playoffs," Reaves said. "I think we've got to make sure we're warming up for the playoffs, essentially."

So for Thursday, the plan remains: Pour everything into this game and let next week, when the postseason starts, take care of itself.

"I think we have a ton of time to rest, so anybody that can help us is going to play tonight," Hitchcock said. "Anybody that can help us is going to play Saturday, and then we'll move from there. We're not in a position to rest people."

MORNING SKATE NOTES

• Injured Blues forwards Vladimir Tarasenko and Alexander Steen, as well as injured defenseman Robert Bortuzzo, joined the team on the ice at the morning skate Thursday, skating primarily with players who are projected scratches in tonight's lineup.

"They've been skating out of the limelight of the media for a little while now," Hitchcock said of the injuired trio. "So it's nothing new, they just happened to join us today."

• The Blackhawks are still without injured forward Patrick Kane, who's been out of the lineup since late February. According to the Chicago Tribune's Chris Kuc, Kane did not travel with the team to St. Louis.

You can follow Elisabeth Meinecke on Twitter at @lismeinecke or email her at ecmeinecke@gmail.com.