About this time last month, the talk in the Blues’ locker room centered around making a run before the Christmas break. Didn’t happen.

This month, it’s about making a run before the All-Star break. The Blues have eight games to make that happen.

Perhaps at this point next month, the talk will be about making a run before the trade deadline.

Pretty soon the Blues will run out of calendar.

Strangely, though, they’re close enough to playoff contention to cling to some version of hope. Despite all the trials and tribulations of this season, the Blues are a modest seven points out of the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference. They have played fewer games than anyone in the West — three, four, even five games fewer than some.

One hot streak, say winning six of their eight games before the All-Star break, would put them back in the picture.

But at the exact midpoint of the 82-game regular season — 17-20-4 through 41 games — the Blues are on pace for 76 points, which would be their lowest total in a full 82-game season since 2005-06. The Blues have been above .500 only once all season — at 6-5-3 way back on Nov. 9. They haven’t seen .500 since Nov. 16, when they were 7-7-3 two games before Mike Yeo was fired.