The 44-29-7 St. Louis Blues are headed to the playoffs playing their best hockey of the season.The Blues are 8-1-2 in their last 11 after a 6-3 win at Florida on Thursday and need just one point in their final two games to hold off Nashville for a chance to take on Minnesota in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs. The Carolina Hurricanes climbed into a contending spot for a wild card spot in the Eastern Conference but then dropped their first four games of April and at 35-31-14 (84 points), will sit the playoffs out.

St. Louis: This marks the Blues' final road game of the regular season and a victory, or extending the game to overtime, would clinch that third-place divisional spot for St. Louis without going into the final day of the season with that uncertainty. "Obviously, we're looking at other scores, but we're also expecting ourselves to take care of our games," LW David Perron said. "I think it's huge in the playoffs. It would be huge to secure third place."

Carolina: The Hurricanes exited March on a 13-game point streak (9-0-4) but have scored just five goals in April (have been shut out twice!), going 0-4-0! Head coach Bill Peters was pretty straightforward about how he didn't want to witness a repeat of how the team played in Thursday's 3-0 home loss to the Islanders. "I would suggest you go back to work and find the identity and share the workload to finish this off properly," Peters said.

The pick: Most of the key offensive players for Carolina have gone cold down the stretch. Meanwhile, St. Louis is 13-2-2 across a period of a little more than a month. Make the Under an 8* play.