Craig Berube knew the moment had come in the middle of the St. Louis Blues' Game 5 on Thursday night against the Winnipeg Jets.
The interim coach who took over in November moved David Perron on to the top line in place of Brayden Schenn, and the savvy change helped the Blues come back from a two-goal deficit to win in regulation and take a 3-2 series lead going into Game 6 at home tonight with the chance to advance to the conference semifinals.
"Our team responded to it," Berube said after the comeback win. "You don't score, you've got to change it up a little. It was a good time to make the change."
With a win tonight, the Blues would advance to take on the winner of the series between the Predators and the Stars. That series is tied at 2 heading into this afternoon's game in Nashville.
If needed, a deciding Game 7 would be played Monday in Winnipeg. The road team has won the first five games of the series.
The Blues did not advance to the playoffs last year. St. Louis advanced to the second round of the playoffs in the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons after losing their first playoff series the previous three years.