Blues preparing for long road ahead

ST. LOUIS The schedule makers were more than kind to the St. Louis Blues for the first four months of the season. It's about to even out in a painful way. The Blues returned to the ice Friday night after an NHL-long nine-day layoff for the All-Star break and beat the Los Angeles Kings 1-0 at Scottrade Center. The other 29 teams all played at least one game and 23 teams played two games following last Sunday's All-Star Game before the Blues hit the ice Friday night. But they showed little rust, out-shooting the Kings 33-22 and scoring the only goal on a Jamie Langenbrunner one-timer midway through the second period. Jaroslav Halak earned his fourth shutout in the past seven games and improved to 12-1-3 in his last 16 games to help the Blues improve to 22-3-4 at home this season. "Obviously it was important after the break to come out strong and get the two points," said Halak, who has lost just one game in regulation since November 22. "Obviously right now its' going to be hard for the rest of the season because most of the games are on the road but we just need to make sure we play one game at a time and don't think too far ahead." The Blues have taken full advantage of their 29 home games, earning 48 of a possible 58 points at the Scottrade Center. But the home cooking will soon come to end, with 20 of their final 32 games on the road to end the regular season. Saturday night's game at Nashville starts a three-game road trip that also includes stops in Ottawa and New Jersey. And the Blues know the plethora of road games only make it more important to take care of business in the few home opportunities they have left. "We're not going to have a whole lot of opportunities here after the next week," said Langenbrunner. "We're going to have to transfer how we've played at home to the road and I think we can do that. "It's not going to go well every night. Teams are for whatever reason a little better at home, but if we continue to play the way we are capable of, we're going to pick up our fair share of wins on the road." The Blues actually play five of seven games at home following their three-game trip before the schedule takes a steep uphill climb. The first of two lengthy road trips starts Feb. 23, a six-game trip that takes the Blues to Nashville, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and San Jose in just ten days. They return home for three games before hitting the road for a seven-game road trip to Columbus, Chicago, Carolina, Tampa Bay, Anaheim, Los Angeles and Phoenix from March 11-25. "You're going to have to win on the road," said coach Ken Hitchcock. "If we expect to get into the playoffs, we're going to have to be a .500 team on the road. We can't just keep winning all the home games because there's going to be games that we come back to where we are tired and banged up a little bit and we're not going to have the advantage of being the rested team like we did in January. "We're really going to have to win road games here and no better place to win at that barn down there in Nashville." The Blues are just 8-10-3 on the road this year. Friday's win gave them 67 points, tied for the second highest total in the league. But with 32 games remaining, they know the schedule only gets tougher from here. "We're trying to take advantage of the home games and I think we did that for the most part in January," said forward Matt D'Agostini. "Every game from now on, whether it's on the road or what, is going to be a game like tonight, one goal games. "Everyone is fighting for their lives now. It's playoff hockey from here on out." And for the Blues, their journey towards the playoffs appears to still be a long road ahead.