Besides of course a Blues’ victory over Phoenix tonight, the No. 1 concern among hockey fans in St. Louis is, “Will head coach Andy Murray keep the ‘kid line’ of T.J. Oshie, David Perron and Patrik Berglund together?”

The answer is . . . yes.

Murray was protective of his lineup this morning, but there were indications that after a magical two minutes Thursday in Dallas, when Perron, Berglund and Oshie scored on back-to-back shifts in a 3-1 win, they will line up together tonight.

“I think it was special for us because we really needed that win,” Perron said. “As we can see, the standings are really tight and that win put us even closer to the playoff race. For us to get those goals for the team was really huge.”

Berglund admitted today there will be pressure on the three to perform now that Murray has reunited them.

“I think it’s more pressure actually when we’re together because we’re three young players,” Berglund said. “I think if we don’t make anything happen out there, (Murray) might switch it up and play us with some veterans, or put us on the energy line. I think we need to have patience. Sometimes we can have a solid game but maybe we don’t have those opportunities, those scoring chances. But if we still play solid, we should still stay together. Actually now, I think we’re really comfortable playing with each other. I really know what they’re good at, and that’s a relief, knowing where they are.”

Said Perron: “I agree with what Bergy said. You won’t score every game, it’s a good league. It’s hard to get some goals every game, but our main thing every game is to play as good as we can defensively. That’s our goal right now, and obviously we want to create some momentum for our team, make some energy.”

Oshie had been playing with Andy McDonald and Keith Tkachuk and mentioned several times over the last few weeks how thrilled he is to play them. But even he noted this morning the chemistry he feels with Perron and Berglund.

“We’ve got a little closer connection than if we’re playing with a bunch of the veterans,” Oshie said. “Sometime you can be hesitant not to give them the puck . . . things like that. I think when we’re all three together, we’re just playing our game and just working for each other.”

Murray believes the move to put Perron and Berglund on the fourth line temporarily did work.

“It kind of worked out exactly the way I wanted it,” Murray said. “Let’s hope they take advantage of it. We made our point, I think, with Bergy and David that they had to elevate their game. It could have maybe happened a little sooner. We still won our games and hopefully made our point with these young guys with how hard they need to play consistently.”

Oshie was glad to see both his teammates back in a top-six role.

“It’s great to see,” Oshie said. “Especially for (Berglund), he was expected to play a big role early, with all the injuries we had an things like that. It’s his rookie season and he’s reaching that 60-goal mark. But it’s good to see the battle. He battled hard during that little time where he was on the (fourth) line. Him and Perry, it’s good to see them get rewarded for their hard work.”

Perron said: “First line, fourth line . . . the goal of hockey is to score some goals. For me, I’ve just got to go out there and play with passion. It doesn’t matter where I’m playing. If i play one shift or 15 shifts, I have to play as hard as I can for those shifts. That’s my thinking right now. Obviously it was frustrating to be on the fourth line, but it got to a point where I just have to play with passion on every shift.”

********

Here are the Blues’ other lines shook out in practice this morning:

Keith Tkachuk-Andy McDonald-Brad Boyes

David Perrond-Patrik Berglund-T.J. Oshie

Alex Steen-Jay McClement-B.J. Crombeen

Brad Winchester-David Backes-Cam Janssen

********

The defensive lineup with stay the same, which means Carlo Colaiacovo will play tonight after leaving Thursday’s game in the second period. He went down to block a shot and the puck hit him square on the knee-cap. The force of the puck caused a bruise and broke the skin, but there was no significant damage.

“Obviously I was in a lot of pain at the time, but overnight, it responded really well,” Colaiacovo said. “I was able to ride the bike yesterday to get some movement in it, and it’s just been getting better.”

I asked Colaiacovo is there’s pressure on him to shake off injuries as quickly as possible due to the fact that he had a reputation of being injury-prone when he arrived here from Toronto.

“Who really cares what they say (in Toronto),” Colaiacovo said. “The bottom line, at the end of the day, it’s all about the way I feel, being a part of this team and helping this team win. People can say what they want to say . . . at the end of the day, I’m myself. Whether those things happen to me, I’m not going to let things that happen to me in the past haunt me in the future. I’m going to continue to play hard because that’s the only way I know how to play.”

********

There is a good vibe in the Blues’ locker room, knowing that the team is just three points out of a playoff spot.

“As a player, this is what you play for,” McDonald said. “It’s motivating coming to the rink every night, knowing you have a chance. Your fate is in your hands and you have a chance to make the playoffs. When you started the season, that was our goal . . . to make the playoffs. It’s right in front of us.

Several players were aware this morning that it will be impossible to climb closer than three points in the standings even with a win tonight. That’s because all four teams with 65 points were set to play each other. Anaheim defeated Dallas 4-3, so the Ducks now have 67 points. Later tonight, Edmonton and Minnesota will face other. So the Blues won’t be able to pull closer to three points, but they will be able to gain ground on the losers of those games . . . Dallas and whoever loses between Edmonton and Minnesota.

JR