Other than a stack of unused Post-it notes with the Blues’ logo on a kitchen counter, there’s little that lets visitors know they’re in the home of the team’s owner.

There are some Blues sweaters in the basement, with “STILLMAN” stitched across the back, but they are camouflaged by a large and highly organized collection of hunting gear. There are more shirts than the team gives away at the turnstiles at Scottrade Center, and more camo hats than shovels to scoop off the ice after a Vladimir Tarasenko hat trick.

The surroundings may offer few clues, but as the pre-game coverage of the Blues’ game in San Jose begins late Thursday night, Tom Stillman’s antsiness to plop down on the couch starts to paint the picture of what you are about to witness. His club has been playing well lately, but a 2-1 loss to Anaheim the night before dampened his spirits, and a win over the Sharks could restore the mood.

“We’re empty-nesters now, but when the kids were here, people had their spots to sit,” said Mary Stillman, Tom’s wife, who noted that her husband is always on the right side of the sofa. “You don’t talk. If you do, he’ll rewind the TV. When something good happens, he claps, yells, and then he’ll bang the side of the arm of the couch. It only lasts a second, but it’s loud.

“And what’s so funny is that our dogs are used to it. If anything else like that happens in the course of a day _ if I drop something loud _ they go nuts. But they know when Tom yells, ‘Oh, that’s the sound of watching hockey.’ They don’t flinch, they don’t bark, they don’t think it’s a car coming. They just keep chewing their bone or whatever they’re doing. It’s so funny to me.”

On this night, Greta, a Chesapeake Bay retriever, and Marco, a Havanese, are chewing on those bones as the Stillmans get set to gnaw on their fingernails. The SAP Center in San Jose brings a little extra anxiety because it’s where the Blues bowed out of the Western Conference finals last season, one step short of the franchise’s first trip to the Stanley Cup Finals since 1970.

“I get kind of anxious before the games,” said Stillman, who’s wearing a light shirt and pants and has already shed his shoes. “‘Butterflies’ is too strong, but I’m just anxious, like ‘Here we go.’”

The puck finally drops at 9:38 p.m. St. Louis time and John Kelly and Darren Pang are on the broadcast on Fox Sports Midwest. But in between their boisterous calls and thoughtful analysis, Stillman provides his own running commentary.

Thirty-nine seconds into the game, Tarasenko takes a shot that is blocked by San Jose defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic, but that stirred up an early thought about the sniper.

“It’s amazing, Tarasenko’s shot, even when it’s right on the goalie, it still catches him by surprise,” Stillman said. “It’s funny, the speed is not that much greater, but I guess he’s changing the angle right before (he shoots it).”

A little later in the period, Blues forward Magnus Paajarvi flies up the ice, and Stillman, the 65-year-old former player at Middlebury College, says: “Paajarvi’s skating reminds me of mine _ in my dreams. My God he’s a great skater.”

After one of the first stoppages in play, Mary enters the room, jumping by the front of the TV and taking a seat in a nearby chair.

“Now I can walk across,” said Mary, the daughter of former U.S. Sen. John Danforth, who is a huge Cardinal baseball fan. “I remember growing up, if anybody was standing in front of the television just nonchalantly during a Cards game, my dad would say, ‘TV.’ He didn’t say anything else, just ‘TV.’”

Back on Stillman’s TV, the Blues and San Jose were still scoreless with 6:45 left in the first period.

“It doesn’t seem like a very intense game so far,” Stillman opined. “I hope we can just get out of the period even.”

But as the concern grew, Kelly’s voice on the Blues’ broadcast did as well: “Here’s Upshall, at center ice, a drive, he scores!”

“Yes!” Stillman shrieked.

Scottie Upshall’s eighth goal of the season with 3 minutes, 20 seconds left in the period gave the Blues a 1-0 lead. The wrister beat Sharks goalie Aaron Dell, but not as badly as Stillman beat the side of the couch.

“See, it’s the banging of the arm,” Mary said.

And as Mary also indicated would happen, Tom quickly found the “rewind” button on the remote.

“Off the faceoff ... ” Stillman noted. “Who were they against here? It was (Joe) Pavelski’s line. How about that?”

The excitement was short-lived, however, as Vlasic would knock a puck in off the skate of Blues defenseman Carl Gunnarsson just 1:05 later for a 1-1 score.

“Damn!” Stillman said.

The second period began with a plate of cheese and crackers, but before Stillman could get settled in, a shot rang off a Blues player who appeared injured.

“His right hand is hurting right now,” Pang pointed out.

“Whose (hand)?” Stillman said, before seeing that it was Patrik Berglund. “Oh shoot!”

But Berglund wound up being in good shape and the Blues were about to be in even better shape.

Zach Sanford, the 22-year-old prospect acquired from Washington in the trade for Kevin Shattenkirk, was back in the lineup after being a healthy scratch for six straight games. Earlier in the night, Stillman had voiced some optimism about the forward.

“Our guys really like him,” he said. “It sounds like he has some real skill.”

Sanford was about to show it, picking the top corner of the net for a 2-1 lead less than six minutes into the second period.

“Yes! Sanford!” Stillman yelled. “That’s awesome. I love seeing that.”

The Blues held that 2-1 lead on San Jose at the second intermission, and while others in the room took a quick glance at their phone during the break, Stillman did not. Since he is typically rewinding the game, he’s often several minutes behind the live action and doesn’t want to know what’s coming up.

“It’s best if I don’t have my phone even close because I know if I’m getting a lot of texts that we’re doing well,” Stillman said. “My friends aren’t so mean as to text, ‘What the hell is wrong with your team?’”

The Blues weren’t out of the woods yet. A hooking penalty on Sanford late in the second period kept the Sharks on the power play for the start of the third. But with the help of a heads-up play from captain Alex Pietrangelo, they killed it.

“I don’t think there’s anybody who clears the puck on the penalty kill like Pietrangelo,” Stillman said. “He’s like an artist.”

The Blues were soon awarded their first power play of the game when Alexander Steen drew a tripping penalty on Dylan Demelo.

“Finally, all right!” Stillman said. “Boy if we could just do it here.”

Twelve seconds later, Tarasenko netted the much-needed power-play goal, giving the Blues a 3-1 lead with 11:26 left.

“Yes! Oh man!” Stillman howled.

Down by two, San Jose emptied its net for an extra attacker and Tarasenko added his second of the game and 34th of the season, closing out the victory.

“That’s a big win,” Stillman said. “It’s satisfying to see the team perform in a situation like that. I’m happy for the players and the coaches.”

And Mary was happy for her husband, whose passion and interest in the Blues’ success has been received by fans as genuine.

“It’s pretty organic,” Mary said. “His background playing hockey growing up, his interest in it just grew like that versus coming in sideways and thinking this is a good investment. It’s interesting to me how much it matters to fans. It’s just an authenticity that people appreciate — to a point I didn’t really understand that that would resonate, but it does.”

“It isn’t about counting dollars,” Stillman said. “It’s so funny, you read these things, ‘Well the owners like it because it makes money.’ I don’t think you can generalize it that way. I think most owners want to win. And this is just something I’ve loved for a long, long time. You don’t exactly have to force yourself to watch it.”

Stillman watched every shift Thursday night, but now that the game was over and it was 12:06 a.m., he was ready for bed. He would be rising in just six hours and on the ice with the Blues’ alumni at 7:30 a.m.

“I’ll be tired when I get up,” Stillman said. “But after a win, you’ve got a little more spring in your step, you’re just a little more energetic.”