The St. Louis Blues registered a convincing win over the surging San Jose Sharks last night, peaking for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, as they clinched a playoff spot.

Riding strong offensive play from Ray Ferraro (goal and an assist) and Cory Stillman (two goals), the Blues affirmed they should not be overlooked as a pick to come out of the Western Conference in the Playoffs. This is a team putting all the pieces together as it builds momentum, heading into the post-season.

Though he was somewhat unsteady early in the first period, goaltender Brent Johnson improved as the game progressed, and made a handful of spectacular saves in the second period, when the game was still in doubt.

The pace of the first two periods was set by the Blues transition game, led by Keith Tkachuk, Cory Stillman, and the second line of Scott Young, Ray Ferraro and Dallas Drake, while G Brent Johnson protected the Blues' two-goal lead. The team's vaunted grinders put forth a solid forechecking effort and took over the game in the third period, as the Blues established a three-goal lead following a Ray Ferraro deflection goal from the crease.

With the victory, St. Louis qualified for the playoffs for the 23rd straight season. Combined with the Kings' loss to the Canucks, the Blues vaulted into the fourth seed in the Western Conference. The Blues would play Chicago if the Playoffs started today, a playoff team that is entering the post-season with mounting identity and rhythm problems.

St. Louis Blues Playoff Preview

After a shaky season, especially early on, the Blues are in the playoffs and climbing the Western Conference seedings. Caps' Corner, which looked took a look at the Blues at mid-season, takes another look at St. Louis as the playoffs are set to begin, with what remain weaknesses and what is going right for the team.

Grounds For Concern?

Goaltending. Does it seem inevitable to everyone that Curtis Joseph will end up in St. Louis next season? For the moment, Brent Johnson is handling the pressure admirably, but for how long? In a big game against the Sharks last night, Johnson was sharp.

Playoff success rests with goaltending, and Brent Johnson will need to carry his team out of the West.

Scott Young continues to struggle. To be successful deep into the playoffs, last year's 40-goal scorer needs to heat up at the right time.

Most people think of the rock-solid Blues defensemen when considering the team's strengths. Yet how strong is the blueline in St. Louis, really? The Blues' vaunted defense consists of three tiers of players:

1. Al MacInnis and Chris Pronger: MacInnis has been the more consistent player this season, and healthier than he has been in years. Both are capable of giving you 28-30 minutes per night-- Pronger would play 100 minutes a game, if his coach would only let him... No other NHL team has two defensemen who provide this level of elite two-way play from the blueline, with the possible exception of Detroit's Nicklas Lidstrom and Chris Chelios. Following a slow start, Chris Pronger is playing mean and dominant hockey these days, and could emerge as the Scott Stevens of the 2002 playoffs.

2. Bryce Salvador and Alexander Khavanov: These two players, often overlooked playing in the shadow of the twin Titans manning the blueline, provide solid play, endurance, speed and growing reliability. They constitute strong #3 and #4 defensemen for this team. Bryce Salvador remains sidelined while recovering from a concussion, but is likely to be in game shape for the playoffs.

3. Beyond their four top defensemen, this season the Blues have had a series of players platooning in the #5 and #6 defense slots. On the positive side, any injury on defense in the playoffs will not require the Blues to thrust a player unschooled in the system into the lineup, since Joel Quenneville has given many Blues defensemen the chance to play.

Alexander Khavanov, at right, has quietly become a fixture on the blueline for St. Louis, in all situations.

On the flip side, however, the Blues do not have go-to defensemen beyond the top four. Accordingly, one wonders whether the top four can take the pressure of heavy minutes every game, through four playoff rounds. Al MacInnis, in particular, may begin to tire deeper in the playoffs. Ultimately, it seems likely that Quenneville will lean on his top two horses down the stretch, although this may be the year he places more faith in Salvador and Khavanov.

Jeff Finley is probably entrenched as the Blues' #5 defenseman, although it is unlikely that he will play in key faceoff draws in the defensive zone, or when the game is on the line. The #6 position is a revolving door, though based on Queneville's lineups entering the playoffs, expect to see Mike Van Ryn, Marc Bergevin, and Christian Laflamme platooning in the #6 slot.

Reasons For Optimism

Judicious trades: Mike Keane, without question, is a fantastic character player. He has won multiple Stanley Cups with different teams, including the Montreal Canadiens in 1993, the Colorado Avalanche in 1995, and the Dallas Stars in 1999. He has veteran savvy, grit, heart, and a history of raising his offensive play in the playoffs.

The top powerplay unit of Chris Pronger, Keith Tkachuk, Al MacInnis, Cory Stillman and Ray Ferraro has been on fire in recent NHL play.

Yet it became clear this season that Mike Keane was aging quickly, no longer the player who used to be so effective as an energy checking line forward. St. Louis found a willing trade partner in Colorado, a team that remembered Keane's grit from 1995, and traded him for Shjon Podein. Podein gives St. Louis a comparable player, who is younger and more effective at this moment in their respective careers. Podein is a shrewd pickup for St. Louis, a player who won a Cup as a role player with Colorado just a year ago.

When Doug Weight went down with a long-term injury, a team that had needed a second line center as the beginning of the season, was suddenly in need of two. The past year had yielded Keith Tkachuk and Doug Weight in blockbuster trades, yet cost St. Louis many assets from its farm system. By the March 2002 trade deadline, St. Louis had few valuable prospects to trade, and a pressing need for a scoring-line center.

GM Larry Pleau responded with the acquisition of aging but still effective center Ray Ferraro, without having to give up anything off his roster. Ferraro still has speed, vision and passing ability, and is fitting in very well alongside St. Louis' abundance of scoring wingers, all at minimal cost to the franchise. Ferraro scored a goal form in front of the net and set up Cory Stillman with a beautiful saucer pass on a two-on-one last night; and scored a pair of goals on Tuesday night. It is safe to say that the Blues have received more than they expected from Ferraro, a graybeard who has played himself onto the Blues' top powerplay unit and shows no signs of slowing down.

St. Louis checking forward Reed Low pummels Nashville star Scott Hartnell into the boards.

Grit: It was not long ago that St. Louis won the President's trophy, only to go down in a shocking upset in the first round to a still rising franchise, the gritty San Jose Sharks. It was at that time that GM Larry Pleau began ripping out the skilled but soft core of the President's Trophy champions. Since then, St. Louis' greatest advantage has been its abundance of gritty character role players. Today, Scott Mellanby, Tyson Nash, Dallas Drake, Jamal Mayers, Shjon Podein and Reed Low provide tons of grit and heart - and lately, they have also looked strong in the offensive part of the game.

When St. Louis is receiving solid two-way play from its third and fourth lines, other teams should be wary. This group wears down other teams, over seven-game series. The later that the Blues go in the playoffs, the team's depth of grinding, physical forwards will have an increasingly tangible effect against the Blues' opponents.

These grinders now define the St. Louis Blues, and have given the franchise the label of the NHL team built especially for the playoffs.

Doug Weight Is Healthy
On April 11, Doug Weight received clearance from his doctors to return to the Blues lineup, just in time for the end of the regular season. With Weight out, Pavol Demitra stepped up to assume the #1 center role for the Blues from #2, while new acquisition Ray Ferraro provided spark at center in Weight's absence. Now with Weight ready to play Saturday, the Blues suddenly look exceedingly strong at center, with speed, playmaking and scoring up the middle.

Ferraro is playing so well that Blues coach Joel Quenneville may even have the luxury of playing Demitra at wing, his natural position, for the first time all season.

Sniper Cory Stillman, long dormant for most of the season, is finally scoring, skating and making clutch plays. That has to be great news for a Blues team on which Stillman has been a secondary player for most of the season. Last night, Stillman popped two goals on a couple of superstar dekes off great passes.

Keith Tkachuk has been huge of late. Whether crashing the net on the powerplay, or streaking down the wing and teeing up his booming shot, he has adjusted well to varying roles.

Finally, Keith Tkachuk is flying all over the ice, earning every penny of his superstar salary. The Blues may have discovered that Tkachuk is not be the best character guy in the dressing room, nor does he have the greatest attitude. Right now, however, that does not matter. Tkachuk is one of the better players in the NHL at the moment, and all about the team concept as the playoffs begin. With a drive to the net against the Sharks last night, and a deft redirection, the power forward gave his team the game-winning goal. Tkachuk is skating, his shot has bite, and he is driving the net.

The offense is clicking across the roster, and now the Blues will have a couple of games to incorporate passionate, gritty, and skilled center Doug Weight into the lineup.

Most Valuable Player: Al MacInnis.
With his best season since leading Calgary to the Stanley Cup in 1989, a healthy Al MacInnis has done it all for St. Louis this season, registering scarcely a slump all year. He continues to quarterback the powerplay, score at an elite level, and intimidate goaltenders with his slapshot. Yet it is his defense that sets Mac's game apart. Conditioning has prevented MacInnis from losing more than a slight step in his skating. The benefit of experience has more than made up for a drop in speed, however, as Mac never seems to be out of position. Whither Al MacInnis goes, so go the Blues this post-season.

Stanley Cup Playoffs Preview
Critics have panned the Blues all season, especially for failing to shore up the goaltending position. They called the decision to release Pierre Turgeon and trade for Doug Weight a lateral move at best, pointing to the team's holes at second-line center and their lack of scorers.

Markus Naslund beats Felix Potvin for a goal.

Click here to E-mail Caps' Corner