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The signs Wednesday morning at Centene Community Ice Center in Maryland Heights said everything that needed to be known about the time of year, the paranoia of the playoffs and the location of the first-round series between the Blues and Jets.

“BLUES PRACTICES ARE CLOSED TO PUBLIC DURING PLAYOFFS -MANAGEMENT,â€� the sign read, with “CLOSEDâ€� underlined in red. ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ were taped to every glass door you could find, and blue curtains shielded the Blues practice from potential external onlookers.

The sign hasn’t been needed in almost three years, as the Blues are set to play their first home playoff game since 2022 when they host Game 3 against Winnipeg at 8:30 p.m. Thursday at Enterprise Center. St. Louis is down 2-0 after losing both games in Winnipeg to start the series.

But the Blues will return to a building that has provided nothing but positive memories for the past two months.

St. Louis won its last 12 games of the regular season inside Enterprise Center. Coincidentally, the last home loss for the Blues was a shootout loss to the Jets on Feb. 22. Blues coach Jim Montgomery was quick to dismiss his team’s recent history at home.

“That’s the regular season; it’s playoffs now,� Montgomery said. “We have to start a win streak in the playoffs, but our crowd is a big part of it.�

During the 12-game home win streak, the Blues outscored teams by 35 goals, almost three goals a game on average. It was at home where the Blues moved back into a playoff spot with a win over Vancouver. It was at home where the streak was saved against the Red Wings and Penguins and Avalanche. It was at home where the Blues clinched a playoff spot vs. Utah after a stinky three-game road trip.

While reminiscing on their play from two months ago doesn’t help the Blues, they might be able to draw some of the feelings, emotions that came from putting their season back on the rails now that they’ll have to do the same in the postseason.

“I think what that win streak did for us is prove to ourselves that we were what we believed that we were,� Blues forward Jake Neighbours said. “Now, we’re in a position where we’re in the playoffs. May be down two, but they got their two in their barn and now it’s our turn to do our job at home. We’re excited for that opportunity to play in front of our fans, first (home) playoff game in over three years. Fans are going to be excited; we’re excited to play in front of them. We believe this series is long from over.�

Game 3 on Thursday won’t eliminate the Blues, but a loss will obviously drastically diminish their chances of a comeback in the series. Teams down 3-0 in a series have only won four of the 211 such series in NHL history. Teams that won Game 3 after losing the first two on the road came back to win 21.2% of the time.

As the Blues try to claw their way back in the series, they’ll have to nudge their way inside toward the crease.

In the first two games of the series, the Blues struggled to produce much at five on five, and a lot of it due to not being able to get on the inside. They scored one goal at five on five. Their 1.2 expected goals and 4.44 high-danger chances per hour at five on five are both the lowest in the playoffs, according to Natural Stat Trick.

“Sometimes you got to credit the opposition, and sometimes we need to reinforce it,� Montgomery said. “I think we’ve talked a lot about defending our net, but I don’t think we talked enough as a coaching staff, myself in particular, about being heavy at their net-front.�

Neighbours: “They’ve got a really good goalie, and you can’t make it easy on him. You’ve got to get to the net and make it harder for him to see pucks and create chaos around him. I think if we can do a better job of that, (we’ll have success). I thought it got better from Game 1 to Game 2 and hopefully taking another step heading into Game 3.�

It’s not all that different from the regular season, when the Blues ranked 30th in high-danger chances and 29th in expected goals after the 4 Nations Face-Off break at five on five. But it helped having perhaps the best defense in the NHL.

Now, with the competition and the intensity ramped up, they’ll have to find a way on the offensive end of the ice.

“It’s always a mentality,â€� Montgomery said. “It’s an attitude. There’s a reason why, I’m going to pull out an old name, but someone like Dino Ciccarelli or Dave Andreychuk scored so many goals. ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ weren’t scoring from outside the tops (of the circle). ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ were right at the net-front. Tim Kerr’s another great name. Keith Tkachuk and Scott Mellanby. I should throw some Blues in there.â€�

The Blues became just the fifth team in NHL history and the first one in 40 years to finish the regular season with a home win streak of at least 12 games. The last team to do so was the 1984-85 Flyers, who also won their first six playoff home games before losing to the dynastic Oilers in the Stanley Cup Final.

The last team to put together a 12-game home win streak at any point in the season was the Lightning two years ago. They lost all three playoff games to the Maple Leafs and were bounced in the first round.

“I hope it will be like usual lately, like last two months,� Blues forward Pavel Buchnevich said. “It will be an amazing crowd, going hard when you make the hits. It brings energy to the building and everybody pumped up, goose bumps and stuff. I bet it will be a good crowd tomorrow.�