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POSITIVE SIGNS abound

During the NHL preseason, the Blues' Brad Boyes, David Perron and Lee Stempniak tied for the league lead in goals with five apiece.

Andy McDonald posted the most assists with nine and the most points with 13.

Perron and Paul Kariya racked up the most power-play goals with three, and the Blues' power-play unit was tops with 11 goals.

By recent standards, the Blues' preseason was a start on which the Blues could hang their helmet.

"Up and down the lineup, we seem to be creating offense," McDonald said. "The checking lines have been playing well, so there's a lot of positives to take out of it. But we've got to make sure that we get ourselves ready."

In the days leading up to Friday's season opener against Nashville, the Blues will be turning their attention to the regular season, which hasn't been kind to them the last three years.

The infusion of young skilled players like Patrik Berglund and T.J. Oshie should help bolster the Blues, but coach Andy Murray says that he has no better feeling for how 2008-09 will map out than when the preseason began.

"We've got such a young team, it's hard to say," Murray said. "We believe that we can challenge ... it's just hard to know. It's hard to put a finger on our team right now, more so than maybe any other year I've coached, just because we're so young. But that brings excitement, too."

The Blues, however, believe they can draw some conclusions from their preseason success.

The line of McDonald centering Boyes and Stempniak collected 35 points in five preseason games.

"I think it's a good sign for our line," McDonald said. "We're trying to make good habits."

The line of Kariya, Berglund and Perron also was productive, as were Keith Tkachuk, Oshie and David Backes.

"Hopefully everybody stays healthy and we get production from all three lines," Tkachuk said. "It's nice to finally have three scoring lines. This is something that we've been missing for the last three or four years."

The Blues believe the preseason also illustrated they might have a quicker team this season.

"That's why we're on the power play so much, because of our speed," Tkachuk said. "You look at Andy, Paul, Oshie, Berglund, Perron, Backes, Stempniak ... they all bring speed, and it's hard for other teams to compete with that. You could see it in the preseason."

And the Blues are finally making something out of their power-play chances. They were 11 for 43 in the preseason (25.6 percent).

"Nobody can say we don't have a power-play system," Murray said. "The players never said that, but some of the critics on the outside did. We know what we want to do, and now it's a matter of execution."

Defensively, Murray said that Jay McKee, Barret Jackman and Eric Brewer played their best overall game Saturday in Atlanta.

"Their play back on the blue line, their feet moving and moving the puck, really set the tone for everybody," Murray said.

After the three veterans, the Blues will be relying heavily on youngsters Roman Polak, Steve Wagner, Alex Pietrangelo and Jonas Junland.

"They'll do well," Brewer said. "They're very capable players. They all have great skating ability, and as we know, the name of the game is skating."

Pietrangelo, 18, apparently will start the season with the Blues. He had five assists in five preseason games and was a minus 3.

"The preseason is over and I'm still around, so it's a possibility," he said. "Hopefully I'm here, but they've still got five days to make a decision."

Pietrangelo can play in up to nine games before the year counts as a full season toward his rights. NHL teams hold a player's rights for seven years, so if the Blues don't think he can contribute this year, they will return him to his junior team.

"That would be great for me, play those nine games and just learn more about how it is," Pietrangelo said. "It will be important for me, getting another look and hopefully I can stick around the whole season."

Said Brewer: "He's done well ... good skills ... definitely a very good player."

Meanwhile, the Blues think they have solidified their backup goaltending position. Chris Mason, acquired in a trade with Nashville, was 1-1 with a 3.18 goals-against average and an .885 save percentage in the preseason.

"I think we've strengthened ourselves in that position and added a bit of a stronger presence in the room as well," Murray said.

BLUENOTES — The club reassigned defenseman Tyson Strachan and forward Chris Porter to Peoria on Sunday.

The Detroit Lions went 4-0 in the pre-season.   
Now, in the regular season, the Detroit Lions are 0-4.

Yeah, but the Lions are from Detroit and therefore will always be losers.