Blues rested, relaxed heading into second round against Stars

ST. LOUIS --The St. Louis Blues proclaimed themselves ready for the opening face-off in the Western Conference Second Round against the Dallas Stars after getting the proper time to rest and reload.

Game 1 of the best-of-7 series is at Enterprise Center on Thursday (9:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN, TVAS).
The Blues have not played since Saturday, when they closed out the Western Conference First Round in six games with a 3-2 win against the Winnipeg Jets.
RELATED: [Complete Blues vs. Stars series coverage]
St. Louis, which finished third in the Central Division, took Sunday off before having informal meetings on the upcoming series Monday and skated Tuesday and Wednesday in preparation for the Stars, who won three of four games against the Blues during the regular season.
"It's honestly been the perfect amount," Blues center Brayden Schenn said. "You get a couple days to heal the body, a couple days to practice. Those other teams when they've been sitting off for a week and a half, two weeks, whatever it is and they're doing intersquad games, I don't know if you want to be put in that situation. You want to close out a series as quick as possible; it's always nice getting rest and letting the body heal."

St. Louis lost twice at home to Dallas this season, 3-1 on Jan. 8 and 4-1 on March 2; each was the second half of a back-to-back when the Blues traveled home after a road game.
The Stars also ended St. Louis' record 11-game winning streak with a 5-2 win at American Airlines Center on Feb. 21; the Blues played that game without Schenn and forward David Perron, who each was out with a concussion.
"We're excited, it doesn't matter who you play, we're excited," St. Louis coach Craig Berube said. "We're going to be prepared for them and it's going to be a tough series. They're a good team.

"We got a couple practices in, we had good life out there. The guys were skating well. We're ready to go."
Forward Jaden Schwartz said, "It's nice to get a few days to get some rest and to regroup. Rest is important this time of year. It's nice. We haven't really been practicing much as the year went on. It's nice to touch up on a few things."
---
Listen: New episode of NHL Fantasy on Ice podcast