The Blues’ regular season has ended. Now comes the hard part.

The St. Louis Blues had an inconsistent, injury-ridded regular season, but they finished on a good note as they came back from a 3-0 deficit to defeat the Minnesota Wild 7-3 at Enterprise Center on Thursday.

I was at the game, which was my first Blues’ regular season finale. I had a great time with three of my friends. It was an all-around good experience for all of us.

Photo provided by Ana Kieu.

Not only did I witness an epic, come-from-behind win, I also took back what I said about Perron being my seventh favorite Blues player. He’s slowly becoming my first favorite Blues player. He recorded three points (two goals, one assist) and was named the first star of the game. He also recorded 58 points in 56 games as the Blues’ first point-per-game player since Pavol Demitra, who recorded 93 points in 73 games during the 2002-03 season.

When asked about the point-per-game stat, Perron told NHL.com: “It’s nice, it’s been in the back of my head for a bit... After a certain amount of games, you don’t know how long you can sustain that (pace)… It’s definitely pretty cool, and hearing what Panger (Darren Pang) said about Pavol Demitra, it’s cool.”

The No. 4 seed Blues won three consecutive games to end the season, but now comes the hard part. They’ll have to face the No. 1 seed Colorado Avalanche in the first round of the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs.

Blues captain Ryan O’Reilly told the media: “We could have gotten selfish, having everybody worried about themselves, but we came together… We feel good going into the playoffs.”

The Blues faced adversity and clinched the fourth playoff spot, but it’s now crunch time. They have to come together to continue playing at a consistent level. After all, they’re the underdogs in the West Division.

The Avalanche won the President’s Trophy with a 5-1 win over the lowly Los Angeles Kings. The Denver Post wrote that the President’s Trophy wasn’t a curse to the Avalanche and added that it was essential to their quest for the Stanley Cup.

In a way, they could be right. They’re the No. 1 seed for a reason. They wrapped up the season with five consecutive wins along with a 39-13-4 record and 82 points in 86 games played.

But, at the same time, they could be wrong because only eight President’s Trophy winners have won the Stanley Cup. Those eight teams are the 1986-87 Edmonton Oilers, 1988-89 Calgary Flames, 1993-94 New York Rangers, 1998-99 Dallas Stars, 2000-01 Colorado Avalanche, 2001-02 and 2007-08 Detroit Red Wings, and 2012-13 Chicago Blackhawks.

Only time will tell if the Avalanche will repeat their last Stanley Cup Final run and party like it’s 2001.

In the meantime, the Blues can’t take the Avalanche lightly, despite having 17 players who have won the Stanley Cup, including 16 players from the team’s 2019 Stanley Cup Final roster. The Blues just have to keep believing and have faith in their offense, depth, defense and power play.

Before I wrap things up, I just wanted to point out that the Blues were approved to increase its home capacity to 9,000 fans at the Enterprise Center. Not only is this great news for the City of St. Louis, it’s also great news for the Blues and their fans. The Blues probably miss the real crowd noise and the energy of the crowd.