Last night was an unbelievable night at Scottrade Center, and I’ll get to that in a minute, but first I was at practice this morning and wanted to pass along a few notes and quotes.

Only four players went on the ice this morning: Cam Janssen, Tyson Strachan, D.J. King and Ben Bishop. With four games in six days, the Blues coaching staff is continuing to give the team proper rest.

“Let the body rest, let the mind rest,” forward David Backes said. “Come to the rink on game day fresh and ready to rock. That’s showed up in our performances.”

Blues coach Andy Murray said it’s the right approach.

“We don’t have one player that’s healthy right now,” he said. “Everybody’s bruised and banged and sore. It’s the same with every team in the league . . . but these are hockey players. They go out and play and don’t complain.”

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Blues players are looking forward to this weekend’s home-and-home series against Columbus. The games are Saturday in St. Louis at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday in Columbus at 4 p.m. The teams will leave St. Louis around 11:30 p.m. after Saturday’s game and arrive in Columbus at approximately 1 a.m., but it will actually be 2 a.m. with the time change. The puck drops about 15 hours later.

“I’d like to have a little later start on Sunday to recover, but it’s adrenaline right now . . . we’re playing well, they’re playing well . . . it should a fun weekend,” Blues forward Keith Tkachuk said. “It’s huge for both teams. They’ve put themselves in a little better position than we have, but it’s always been a battle. Even when we were both out of the playoffs, it’s always been a battle. It’s a huge rivalry, and they’ve obviously made their team a lot better. They’re playing well, (Rick) Nash is probably one of the best players in the league right now. He’s dominating. This is great . . . great for our fans to see a rivalry happen like this. They’re so used to seeing Chicago and Detroit, but Columbus is playing so well, both teams are well coached, similar philosophies . . . it’s going to be fun.”

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The security for tomorrow’s game will be vigilant after the story that broke in Columbus last night. A 52-year-old man was charged after calling Nationwide Arena and making death threats toward Blue Jackets goalie Steve Mason.

For the story, click on Columbusdispatch.com

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Back to last night:

The Blues probably sold a few more T.J. Oshie jersey’s after the performance by the 22-year-old. Enough of me . . . here’s the video in case you missed it.

Goalie Chris Mason: “He’s unbelievable. He’s so tenacious. Just the awareness and his hockey sense is unbelievable. He’s a great player and he is so much fun to watch. We’re thankful he’s on our team.”

Forward David Backes: “Hopefully (the Blues) lock him up for about 20 years. (On Oshie’s goal), he holds on and holds on . . . steps through two veteran defensemen . . . gets one of the best goalies in the game down and out . . . then he doesn’t put (the shot) in the middle of the net . . . he’s got to put it right where you place it if you could spot it . . . unbelievable goal by him. He’s a motor for us.”

Blues coach Andy Murray: “The last time I checked the mail, (Oshie) had a few prom invitations. He’s fairly popular right now.”

Here is a quote I got from Oshie a few days ago, before his monster performance last night, but it goes to show you his attitude:

“I know for me, if I go out there and I’m not working as hard as I can, or I have a shift where I don’t feel like I’m building momentum or doing something good, I come off the ice disappointed in myself,” Oshie said. “I want to go out there the next shift and try to be inspirational anyway I can.”

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The people sitting Dave Checketts’ luxury box last night could hardly contain themselves while watching the Blues win. The names of those folks sitting in the box: Eric Brewer, Paul Kariya, Erik Johnson, D.J. King and Tyson Strachan.

Checketts told me after the game last night that the atmosphere at Scottrade Center was what he had envisioned and to see it unfold was more evidence that things are going in the right direction.

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Wrapping up, I want to mention one item that is bothersome to me. The Internet is a fun place to be when the Blues are doing well and everyone is excited. But the Internet, as we all know, can be a haven for obnoxious nonsense as well. And that was the case yesterday with a post on the Blues Talk forum that reported someone seeing Blues goalie Chris Mason smoking.

Normally, I don’t pay attention to this stuff, but Mason approached me this morning and said he had caught wind of the rumor. He wasn’t thrilled about it because not only does he NOT smoke, he battles a case of asthma and wouldn’t even dream of smoking.

So I will try and be more vigilant about what’s being written on the message board, but this goes to show that some people have too much time on their hands and these erroneous reports do get back to the players and can be disturbing.

JR