The schedule can be treacherously long. Even the most die-hard fan is excused if they can’t get up for a hockey game in mid-October.

When there are 30 teams and each plays 82 games, there simply isn’t that much importance placed on one game, even if the coaches insist otherwise.

That’s what makes this portion of the schedule so fun. Individual games now carry serious weight in the playoff race.

On Monday night, the Blues beat the Kings in a single game that had major playoff ramifications. The win meant St. Louis, with its soft schedule the rest of the way, had improved its playoff odds to 84.55 percent, according to MoneyPuck.com.