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A true playoff push by the Blues, one with a real possibility of bearing fruit as opposed to frustration, is tough to buy into right now. They’re on the outside looking in, with several teams blocking their path to the postseason.

Even so, it’s also tough to swallow the idea of the Blues selling off parts and kicking the can further down the road. They’ve looked different coming out of the break for the 4 Nations Face-Off. They registered points in their last three games entering Thursday night, including two wins in regulation.

Three games a season does not make. However, they’ve built a measure of momentum for the first time in more than a month. That’s not just because they gave the Seattle Kraken the old beat ’em down treatment, 7-2, on Tuesday night in Enterprise Center.

The Blues now look like they’ve got the firmest grasp on head coach Jim Montgomery’s systems and the identity he’d envisioned for the team. They’re beginning to display a level of connectedness that we previously only saw in fits and starts or isolated to one line or the other.

It certainly jumped out to Montgomery in Tuesday’s win. One of the first comments he made postgame was, “I just liked the way every line looked the same on the ice, checking-wise, but especially offensively.�

Yes, they smoked a team in the Kraken that has struggled this season.

This is not making a mountain out of an anthill, because it started before Tuesday night.

Following morning skate prior to that game, acknowledged the club being more in sync in their back-to-back weekend games against a pair of teams in playoff positions: Winnipeg and Colorado.

Thomas pointed to the practice time come out of the break, which in his opinion, “allowed us to all get on the same page and start working together.�

It’s easy for those of us on the outside to overlook that practice time, but it was Thomas’ comment served as a reminder that the three consecutive days leading up to the weekend restart were the longest stretch of on-ice work for the team since Montgomery took over.

“Yeah, it would have been the first time we’ve had three days of practice in between games,� Thomas said. “Stuff like that is really important, especially when you’re trying to kind of adjust a little bit to new systems and stuff like that. I think it showed over the weekend.�

Montgomery has made the phrase “hard offensive hockey� a recent refrain. Through the weekend, the Blues showed signs of turning those words into a style of play.

“I think it’s just about smothering teams,� Thomas said. “It’s hard to break pucks out when you’ve got good reloads, you’ve got tight gaps. When you’re playing in your own end, it frustrates teams and it feels like the longest night ever. That’s what we’re trying to accomplish, and we’re getting better at it.�

They’ve certainly maintained possessions more effectively and limited turnovers.

Is that an individual thing or just a matter of better cohesion?

“I think it’s both,� Thomas said. “I think when you’re connected, it makes making those plays easier, which makes less turnovers. So it’s a little bit about decision making and it’s a little bit about supporting each other out there and everyone being on the same page.�

The Blues just turned up the volume on Tuesday. They dictated play from the first period. They uncorked 14 shots to just four for the Kraken in that first stanza. The Blues also won 13 of 18 faceoffs. They had the lone power play of the period, and they scored eight seconds into that opportunity.

They put the game away in the second period. Thomas goal, the third of the game for the Blues, came right after an extended period of time in the offensive zone. The Kraken forced the puck out of the zone, but the Blues regrouped quickly, made a line change and then charged quickly to keep applying pressure.

They ended up with a three-on-one entering the zone. Jake Neighbours made a nice pass and Thomas banged home the rebound of his own initial shot.

The Blues were largely able to play downhill from there as they led 6-0 with more than eight minutes remaining in the second period.

The Blues have successfully transferred things they talked about wanting to do better as well as adjustments they’ve worked to make from practice into games. That includes tweaking the forecheck and unleashing the defensemen a bit more.

“We do feel like with the way we can skate back there, we can keep more pucks alive,� defenseman Cam Fowler said. “So it’s something that we had talked about after break. We wanted to be more aggressive when we had the opportunity.

“You can see it when we’re doing it properly. We’re able to hem teams in their own end and get a lot more offensive pressure too. It’s something that we worked on, that we put a lot of emphasis on after the break.�

Again, it’s three games. The Blues laying an egg against the Washington Capitals and the ageless Alexander Ovechkin on Thursday night in Washington, D.C., might make it easier for some to brush off the way the Blues looked in three home games coming out of the break (Note: This column was written prior to Thursday night’s game).

It’s clear that the Blues have taken significant steps toward establishing a style and standard of play.

Building upon that momentum and the improved dynamic we’ve seen on the ice has got to be a better recipe than swapping out players just to better sell hope to fans.