"The Blues were on such a roll in the second half of the 2008-09 season, some questioned whether Paul Kariya returning to the lineup from injury would help the club. The same Paul Kariya who, with 402 career goals, had more goals than 10 of the team's 12 other forwards combined. The Blues, though, had fought through injuries earlier in the season to T.J. Oshie (high ankle sprain), Andy McDonald (broken ankle), Eric Brewer (nerve issue) and Erik Johnson (knee surgery) and forged a special bond. It led to a memorable run in the second half and helped the club claim the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference. "We had lots of injuries then, and we were kind of an undermanned group that people probably wouldn't look at and say, 'This is a top six team in the West,'" Blues forward B.J. Crombeen said. "But everybody talked about when we had that run, we were really a tight group. Hopefully we can have the same kind of results with this team." There's a long way to go to see whether this group of Blues can advance to the playoffs, but following an onslaught of injuries to their top players, center Patrik Berglund said, "Obviously, it's bringing back some memories." After Saturday's 2-1 shootout loss to Carolina, the Blues are 2-0-2 in their last four games, playing the last three without the injured McDonald, Oshie, David Perron and Roman Polak. In that three-game stretch, they held Vancouver's Daniel Sedin and Henrik Sedin (67 combined points this season), Columbus' Rick Nash (24 points) and Carolina's Eric Staal (28 points) to a combined two assists. "We're playing a real strong team game ... everybody understands what is needed of them to win games," Blues defenseman Barret Jackman said. "It's coming from everywhere. Our penalty-kill has been great, our power play has been clicking a little bit, and we're getting great goaltending."" Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/sports/hockey/professional/article_fd9f3974-4030-57c1-8c1a-1f331f9e235a.html
