Pluses, minuses for Blackhawks, Blues

Each Wednesday throughout the regular season, Kevin Weekes will be offering his pluses and minuses for the teams competing in the NBCSN Wednesday Night Rivalry game in his Weekes on the Web blog. Weekes also will assist fans with three must-watch elements of the game.

The Chicago Blackhawks are in an unfamiliar position of not qualifying for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, something that hasn't happened since 2007-08. However, they can have a big say in making sure one of their biggest rivals doesn't qualify either.
The St. Louis Blues have lost three straight (0-2-1) following a six-game winning streak to fall one point behind the Colorado Avalanche for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Western Conference with one game in hand. The Blues have made the postseason each of the past six seasons.
The points are critical for the Blues (43-30-6) when they host the Blackhawks (32-37-10) at Scottrade Center on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NHL.TV). Here's my breakdown of the game:

Blackhawks

Pluses:Coach Joel Quenneville has marveled about Alex DeBrincat's ability. He has a chance to be a special player. DeBrincat has scored at every level -- he was linemates with Connor McDavid and Dylan Strome at Erie of the Ontario Hockey League and dominated there -- and has scored 27 goals this season, tied for first on the Blackhawks with Patrick Kane. For all that's gone wrong for them this season, the play of DeBrincat has been a big positive.
Kane has quietly had a good season with 74 points, but he can't do everything on his own. Chicago has five 20-goal scorers in Kane, DeBrincat, Nick Schmaltz (21), Jonathan Toews (20) and Artem Anisimov (20). Plus, Brandon Saad has 18 goals. It's rare for a team to have that many get to 20, but the top six have produced all season.

Minuses:Missing the playoffs for the first time in 10 years will definitely lead to some changes this offseason. The Blackhawks have retooled even after winning the Stanley Cup three times in the past decade, trading players for cap space, and have still managed to play well. This season was a different story.
The injury to goalie Corey Crawford really affected them. He's a perennial Vezina Trophy candidate and Chicago was unable to play well without him. Crawford is 16-9-2 with a 2.27 goals-against average and .929 save percentage but has missed majority of the season. The Blackhawks have used six goalies this season, mainly Anton Forsberg, Jeff Glass and J-F Berube. The five other than Crawford are a combined 16-28-8 in 52 starts compared to Crawford's 27.
The Blackhawks also really miss forward Marian Hossa, who's been out the entire season because of a skin disorder. He was a big part of their offense and in their locker room.
Lastly, it's hard to imagine how their power play is 29th in the NHL (15.8 percent) with all that firepower. And the penalty kill is 20th (78.9 percent). Those special teams numbers aren't pretty.

Blues

Pluses:The Blues have received 43 goals from their defensemen. Alex Pietrangelo has 15, Joel Edmundson has seven, Colton Parayko has six and three players five each. When you can get that kind of production from the back end, it's always an added bonus.
Despite all the injuries they've had, they are within striking distance of playoffs. I don't think anyone thought they'd be in this position but the 13-3-1 and 21-8-2 start to the season gave them some margin for error.
Vladimir Tarasenko has scored 32 goals, including five in six games. He's been one of the biggest scoring threats in the League the past four seasons and is capable of taking over games, which is what the Blues will need in their final three games of the season.
Although Jake Allen has started the past 13 games, Carter Hutton has supported him nicely. The potential unrestricted free agent is 16-7-3 with a 2.13 GAA and .930 save percentage, and stepped up big time when Allen struggled.

Minuses:They have been too inconsistent. You can't lose seven games in a row (0-6-1) during a playoff chase. It's no surprise that streak coincided with a scoring slump when the Blues scored 10 goals in those seven games. Recently, they won six straight to get back in the race but have since lost three in a row, including a 6-0 loss to the Arizona Coyotes, who have nothing to play for.
In that same notion, the Blues have lacked the sense of urgency needed at this time. They didn't come out hard against the Coyotes and were blown out, and didn't fare much better in a 4-2 loss to the Washington Capitals on Monday. St. Louis can't rely on other teams to lose. They need to take care of business themselves.
Lastly, the power play must be better. It's 30th in the League (15.4 percent) with one goal in the past seven games. The Blues have also gone 12 of their past 15 games without scoring on the man-advantage (4-for-33). You have to take advantage of those opportunities, especially at this time of year.
THREE THINGS TO WATCH
1. Will St. Louis be the more desperate team? They need to be, considering the playoff implications.
2. Do the Blackhawks rise to the occasion of playing the spoiler role, something they are unaccustomed to doing?
3. The Blues are 2-0-0 against the Blackhawks this season. Can they make it 3-0-0?