No Tomorrow.

The word around St. Louis from some is that the Blues' season has been a success: a division title, third in the NHL, and the first playoff series win in ten years.

Reading a forum on stltoday.com entitled "What do you consider a successful season for the Blues?", many suggested simply winning a playoff series was the goal and anything else is considered gravy.

I hope the players think like myself.

I believe, when you make the playoffs, anything else than raising the Stanley Cup is a failure.

With the Western Conference so wide open, why should the Blues not expect to reach hockey's holy grail? I'll be damned if I am going to watch Phoenix, Arizona or Nashville, Tennessee have a cup parade before us.

Not one team in the Western Conference has ever won the cup. In my opinion, the West is far and away the stronger conference even if the "experts" don't agree (Of course they picked the Pens and Canucks to win it all).

Looking at the East, not one team is strong defensively. There are no stand-out goalies like the West contains. Come Thursday, seeds five through eight could be all that are left. In my honest opinion, most of the Eastern Conference's elite would have struggled to even make the playoffs in the West.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves. The West is were the Blues will really be tested. Nashville and St. Louis have to be the favorites to come out of their conference. Both have strong goaltending, play well defensively, and can score as needed.

Once again, let's not jump over Los Angeles, which will be a real test for the Blues. The number eight seed just took down Vancouver in a physical series where Jonathan Quick was lights-out.

Everyone around town is saying that Los Angeles and Nashville are scary match-ups for the Blues. I have news for you, they are all going to be scary from here on out, it's the Stanley Cup playoffs!

And why should the Blues be scared? To me, if I was another team, I would be afraid to face the Note:

• a red-hot power play.
• a red-hot McDonald (who has a history of being a red-hot playoff scorer on a cup-winner).
• red-hot goaltending.
• Great leadership, from the Captain to Vets like Langenbrunner, Arnott, and McDonald.
• we've been good all season long, never faultering under Hitchcock.
• Oh yeah, experienced coaching, who put in a system that has worked wonders and put belief in some underachieving players (See Oshie, Berglund). And...he's won a cup before.

I know I am looking through biased eyes while writing this, but to me, the Blues have to be favorites, especially if they can get out of the extremely tough Western Conference.

These opportunities are fleeting, fellow Blues fans, and our mantra does not need to be "We'll be good years to come, it's been a success, let's win it next year when we'll be even better." Look how tough the league is, look how tough the West is, and look how tough the Central is. You can bet that early exits by Detroit and Chicago are going to spark change in those organizations to make them competitive next season. Nashville will be back with virtual the same team, and Columbus will  be on the rise someday.

The parody in the NHL is remarkable. A cup contender one year can miss the playoffs the next. There has not been a repeat cup winner since 1998 (Detroit). The Blues were poised in 2009 to break out and be a perennial playoff team. They missed the playoffs for the next two seasons.

There are no guarantees to make it to the playoffs, and once you're there the goal is to win the cup.

"Think how good we'll be next year" is a phrase Blues fans need to lose. The time is now. The opportunity is right in front of this team, and it is time they seize it and not hope for a better tomorrow. There should be no tomorrow in the locker room or the expectations.

July 6, 2011: The Day the Blues Became Contenders

When the Blues power play struggled early on in the season, whose booming shot did they turn to to score on the PP?

Jason Arnott.

When the Blues needed a leader to provide energy and edge, who was there?

Jamie  Langenbrunner.

When the Blues needed a big shift after giving up a goal, or just some good solid two-way hockey, who went on the ice?

Arnott and Langenbrunner.

When the Blues signed veterans Jason Arnott and Jamie Langenbrunner in the off-season, they put the pieces in place to be successful in the postseason.

Look no further than the clinching game 5 over the Sharks in the Western Conference Quarterfinals: The Sharks were in control, up 1-0 on the Blues who had generated little offense. The crowd at Scottrade was mute and preparing for a sixth game in San Jose.

But along came Langenbrunner, scoring a huge goal that set off a 45 second rally and propelled the Blues to the Western Conference Semifinals.

Langenbrunner has a history of scoring big goals in the playoffs, he is the active leader in playoff overtime goals and ranks third in playoff game-winning goals.

And Arnott? He only scored the game-winning overtime goal clinching the Stanley Cup for New Jersey in 2000.

For years the Blues have been a "bubble" team, poised to make the post season and take that next step. But lack of leadership and inexperience seemed to trump their talent, hard work, and potential season after season.

This off-season, Armstrong added Langenbrunner and Arnott on the same day with identical contracts. Both had been captains. Both had won the Stanley Cup.

Darren Pang Tweeted at the time: "These two signings are going to be significant for the development of players ready to take that next step."

It was not just significant for the development of players, but the development of a team as a contender.

Rust Proof

Halak shines in shutout as the Blues show little let down after the longest all-star break in the NHL.

The Blues looked like the same great defensive team that went into the break as they beat Los Angeles 1-0 Friday night. Jamie Langenbrunner scored the lone goal on a great feed from Matt D'Agostini.

That was all the Blues would need as Jaroslav Halak stopped all 22 shots he faced. It was his fifth shutout of the season. Both he and Elliot have five on the season, giving the team ten, tops in the NHL.

That marks the first time that the Blues have had two goalies with at least ten shutouts since Jaques Plante and Glenn Hall did it in 1968-69. They made it to the Stanley Cup Finals that season.

The Blues were weary that the long layoff would cause them to come out a bit rusty, but after firing 12 shots and racking up 15 hits in the first, all worry was gone.

"We started out pretty good actually, but I don't know how that was because I felt terrible," said Matt D'Agostini. "I couldn't skate."

Dags looked good in the second. On a great individual effort, he chipped a puck by a King defender and set up Langenbrunner for the lone score .

The Blues were able to let that goal stand as the winner because of the outstanding play of Halak. He made three world-class left pad saves in the second half of the game. Halak should get the start tonight when the Note face off in Nashville against the Predators.

Highlights:

Blues Begin 2012 with a Win

The Blues halted their longest winless streak at three games by defeating the Phoenix Coyotes 4-1 at home last night.

Christ Stewart is quietly heating up and scored the first goal of the game. Jamie Langenbrunner added a goal in the first on a tip in from Barret Jackman's shot from the point. Phoenix scored late on a power play making the score 2-1 at the end of one. Speaking of things heating up as of late, T.J. Oshie scored on the power play in the Second on a nice neutral zone transition. Berglund added an empty netter to close out the game's scoring.

Jaroslav Halak made 33 saves and was the games number one star. David Perron and Alex Pietrangelo both had 2 assists. Jackman had a notably strong game on defense, which is significant since the Blues are shorthanded in that department due to injuries and suspensions.

The Note improved to 15-3-2 at home, and have nabbed 32 of a possible 40 points. The Blues have become one of the league's best home teams, which should come in handy during January when they play 9 of 11 at Scottrade. In February and March the team goes on the road for 19 of 30. They were in playoff contention last year until an awful January. This team looks to have a great January and rack up the points at home.

Highlights: