The Blues’ coaching staff had two points of emphasis for today’s late-afternoon practice.

1. Net coverage: In Saturday’s 5-4 OT loss at Dallas, the Blues didn’t protect the area in front of goalie Chris Mason.

“We were working on being better in front of our net,” Blues coach Andy Murray said. “We felt our coverage in front of our net last game wasn’t good. We didn’t give up a lot of scoring chances, but the ones we gave up were too easy.”

2. Hitting the net with shots: Against Dallas, the Blues had 26 shots on goal, but they had another 23 shots that missed the net.

“We missed the net (23) times,” Murray said. “That one power play, when it was 4-3 in the third (period), T.J. (Oshie) missed putting one in an empty net. Keith (Tkachuk) has one in the slot but misses the empty net . . . Andy McDonald misses a great chance. If we make it 5-3 there . . . so we’ve got to get some shots on net. That was the emphasis in the (drills Monday), get shots on net. They were putting shots on the middle of the net, instead of just getting it on goal.”

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In one drill today, Keith Tkachuk slid hard into a goal post, knocking it off its moorings. The rink quieted for a moment, as Tkachuk appeared to be in pain. He briefly grabbed a seat on the bench, but then returned to the drills a few minutes later.

“I banged my knee, but I’ll be fine,” Tkachuk said.

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It’s been discussed many times this season, but with the regular season being down to three games, the Blues were once again Monday focusing on having a better start to the game. The club obviously didn’t come out of the gate well in Wednesday’s 3-1 loss to Chicago and they weren’t happy with the first period of Saturday’s loss at Dallas.

After Saturday’s game, Tkachuk said the Blues were overconfident.

“We either ride too high or too low, when you just have to accept that it’s another game,” Blues forward Dan  Hinote said. “Regardless of the fact that it could make or break our season, we know that. You have to have that intensity and desperation, but at the same time, you can’t get too high or too low prior to the game because it’s going to alter how you play.”

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Phoenix had a season-high three-game winning streak snapped Saturday in a 6-1 loss to Los Angeles. The Coyotes are 6-3-1 in their last 10 games, which is their best 10-game stretch of the season.

This is important to note because Phoenix may be in 14th place in the West with 75 points, but the Coyotes will have a say in who makes the playoffs in the Western Conference. After hosting the Blues Tuesday, the ‘Yotes will host Anaheim Friday. Anaheim is two points ahead of the Blues with two games to play.

“I don’t think any team has a right to underestimate any team in this league,” Blues goalie Chris Mason said. “Teams are just too good. At one point, every team in this conference was involved in the playoff hunt. There’s so much at stake. We lost a point that we felt we should have had in Dallas. That game is over with, but these guys, they’re young and got some energy. They’re playing good right now. These are dangerous teams, so we have to be ready. That’s the only way I can put it.”

Mason by the way had a shortened practice today. The team practiced for roughly an hour, while Mason was on the ice for half that time.

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Blues center Patrik Berglund returned to the lineup Saturday at Dallas and appears to be OK after receiving 26 stitches for a leg cut, which happened in Detroit. Berglund played 14:41 in Saturday’s game and seemed to be skating better in practice today than he did in that game.

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Blues owner Dave Checketts is in Phoenix for Tuesday’s game. Checketts told me today that he’s lost all credibility with his wife, Deb.

“I told her that tomorrow’s game in HUMONGOUS,” Checketts said. “She said, ‘You’ve been saying that for three months.’”

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I had a Q&A with Blues President John Davidson in today’s Post-Dispatch.  As I’ve mentioned before, you can’t get everything into the paper, so I’ll finish today’s blog with a few leftovers from my interview with JD.

Q: How impressed have you been with David Backes’ season?

JD: “We expected a lot from David and he’s delivered in a lot of different ways . . . physical play and now goal-scoring is a confident part of his arsenal. I think a lot of it comes from his skating. His skating has really improved with the way he can fore-check and he can win the board battles. Now the puck is going in because he’s getting those chances because he can skate. The breakaway, shorthanded goal when he beat (Vancouver goalie) Roberto Luongo . . . (Backes) pulled away. I credit Andy Murray with that. Those guys moved Backes to center ice and you have to move your legs at center ice. You have no choice. He’s found another step and it’s opened up the whole world for him.”

Q: Barret Jackman was arguably the team’s MVP through the first half, but he’s struggled in recent weeks. How much is he affected by the undisclosed lower-body injury and being asked to play the most minutes on the team?

JD: “Barret has been nicked up all year. You’ve got your defensemen in slots and he’s had to move up a slot. He’s seeing a lot of good hockey players face him all year. Whenever he makes a mistake, it’s not for a lack of trying. The guys plays with a lot of intestinal fortitude and he’s done a great job. He’s played hard, he’s had a lot of very tough minutes of ice time . . . kills every penalty, he’s out againt the other team’s biggest and best players. He’s a strong man, but he’s not 6-4. Those minutes are hard. He takes care of himself. I don’t know where we’d be without him.”

Q: Looking back, what’s your take on the trade that sent Lee Stempniak to Toronto for Alex Steen and Carlo Colaiacovo? (Stempniak has 11 goals and 28 points for the Maple Leafs in 58 games; Steen has six goals and 22 points in 58 games with the Blues; Colaiacovo has three goals and 29 points and is a plus-3 in 60 games with the Blues).

JD: “The trade with Stempy was to try to develop some depth with the team. Stempy is a good kid. Next year, he makes $3.5 million. We’ve got two guys (Steen and Colaiacovo) that combined don’t make as much. Economics are part of trying to building a team. With our market place in particular, we have to be aware of that. Both of those guys have really helped us get NHL depth in our lineup, which has helped us win games.”

JR