The St. Louis Blues had the worst record in the league and going nowhere on Jan. 1.
They fired head coach Mike Yeo after a 7-9-3 start on Nov. 20 and were treading water at 15-18-4 by New Year’s Day.
The team was 8-9-1 under interim coach Craig Berube before something clicked in the new year. They finished the regular season 30-10-5 before beating the Winnipeg Jets in the first round in six games.
They host the Dallas Stars in Game 1 at 8:30 p.m. Thursday in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs at Enterprise Center.