ST. LOUIS -- Time, unlike 6-foot-6 Chris Pronger, is short.

The St. Louis Blues have only two regular-season games after Thursday's home bash with Chicago at Savvis Center. This will be only Pronger's third game after spending the first 77 games on the mend from radical knee and wrist surgeries.

	Chris Pronger scored a goal in his first game back on Saturday against Detroit.

In his season debut last Saturday, the Blues lost a nasty 6-2 brawl with arch-nemesis Detroit. At home again Monday, the Blues came from ahead to settle for an ugly 5-5 tie with Edmonton.

The Blues and Pronger, their erstwhile captain, clearly have some work to do before next week's playoff opener. They now sit fifth in the Western Conference and will likely open the first round at Colorado -- or at Vancouver, if the Avs bounce the Canucks out of the No. 3 seed.

No. 44 has work to do to get back to his shut-down, minute-crunching, Norris Trophy, pre-injury form of two years ago.

The rangy defenseman did score a goal late in the first period of his return against Detroit. He was already minus-2 at that point, having let Pavel Datsyuk squirt past him for a goal.

Pronger finished at minus-2 against Detroit and ditto against Edmonton. He had spent two minutes and change on both special teams against Detroit, followed by no power-play time and just 69 seconds on the penalty kill against Edmonton.

But his overall ice time each game increased from 17 minutes to 21 minutes. And so did his optimism about saving this season, as well as his career.

"I felt better Monday than I did Saturday,'' Pronger said after Thursday's morning skate. "And hopefully I'll feel better than I did on Monday. And hopefully I'll continue to get better each game and use it as a stepping stone to get better by playoff time.''

That's what coach Joel Quenneville has in mind.

"I think Prongs has been fine,'' he said. "We saw some improvement from his first to his second game, and we expect improvement going forward. I could see him improving every day in the playoffs.''

The major concern was Pronger's left wrist. It has weathered three surgeries, the last to remove an inch of bone. No pro athlete has ever returned from such a radical procedure.

That's why the Datsyuk goal raised press-box eyebrows.

Pronger laid his stick across Datsyuk's tummy -- who says the obstruction crackdown is still on? -- but the little guy just turnstiled past.

"I think his strength is fine,'' Quenneville said. "Datsyuk's a tricky little player, and he didn't get by him cleanly.

"With Prongs, I think it's been his timing more than anything, with the quickness of the game.''

Pronger, with a rebuilt ACL in one knee, seems to be motoring with his old maneuverability. The quickness factor is most at play in his head-hand coordination. His stick work, with the puck and with puckish opponents, depends on a strong and supple wrist.

It also stems from a computer-like scanning system that gives him a panoramic view of the ice that most players only get from watching wide-angle replays.

Pronger indicated that the cure is more repetition, not rehabilitation. After all, he only returned to the ice for workouts a month ago.

"We really haven't had that many practices to get that much accomplished,'' he said. "Both prior to being back in games and since I've been back. And when we do practice, we don't have a full complement of players back there because of the injuries.''

Without Pronger, the backline has been the team's backbone.

Al MacInnis, who inherited Pronger's captain's "C," and rookie Barret Jackman are trophy favorites in the No. 1 pairing. In the second pair, Bryce Salvador and Alexander Khavanov have matured into legitimate top-four defenders.

And cagey Jeff Finley has been his usual solid self. The Blues then got good fill-in work from veteran Christian Laflamme and rookie Matt Walker in the No. 6 spot.

Assistant coach Mike Kitchen has done a masterful job of running the defense this season in place of Jimmy Roberts, who retired. Instead of increasing MacInnis's usual 29 minute workload in Pronger's absence, Kitchen managed to chop a couple of minutes per game from the 39-year-old All-Star.

The trick now is finding minutes for Pronger without detonating the chemistry of the top two pairs.

"With No. 44 in front of you,'' Kitchen said, "you just want to put your foot on his back and say, 'Get out there!' "

Pronger played with Salvador the first game and Khavanov the next. He will complete the hat trick Thursday by playing with Finley.

"They don't really know who they want to play me with,'' said Pronger, who just wants to play. "We're just experimenting now.''

And maybe later as well.

"He'll see some ice time even if he doesn't have a regular partner,'' Quenneville said. "'If you're talking about playing him with a different partner every other shift, that's something we can do.''

The last thing Pronger wants is a disruptive return. That's why he went to Quenneville and suggested that MacInnis, the acting captain, keep the "C."

"I thought it was a great idea for the club,'' Quenneville said. "I thought it was the right decision.''

Pronger went a step further and suggested that alternate captains Doug Weight and Scott Mellanby keep the "A" on their sweaters.

Some observers wondered if Pronger would push for his old spot on the first power-play unit. With the slick Weight at the left point, the power play ranks fourth in the league at over 20 percent efficiency.

Quenneville is not inclined to break up a good thing, and Pronger is not inclined to ask him to.

"It's a 'need' thing,'' Quenneville said. "We don't need to play him there.''

Pronger scoffed at the idea of a power-play controversy.

	“	It's been a huge lift for our team, having (Pronger) back. The first day he came out and skated around with us, you could just feel the intensity with the team. Guys were snapping the puck. You could feel the liveliness out there. ”
		— Blues teammate Reed Low

"It's pretty simple,'' he said, "pretty cut and dried. Why fix it if it ain't broke? Hey, with the five games that I can get in before the playoffs, do you really think I care how many points I get? Will I be going for any record?"

His teammates, though, feel a lot better about going for a Cup with him on skates than in the press box.

"It's amazing watching him,'' said Jackman. "You can tell the vision's coming back. He makes the same passes that Al makes. They do the same things, except that Prongs has that mean streak.''

When Walker was asked what he's learned by watching Pronger, he laughed and said, "If my stick was 12 inches longer, I'd be picking up more! His reach is phenomenal.

"Watching him and Al out there, they make the game look pretty damn easy.''

A long playoff run appears much tougher. The Blues are just getting healthy across the board. As always, their goaltending is a question mark. And Colorado, the likely Round 1 opponent, seems to have their number.

That's why No. 44 looming on the ice is a welcome sight.

"It's been a huge lift for our team, having him back,'' said enforcer Reed Low. "The first day he came out and skated around with us, you could just feel the intensity with the team. Guys were snapping the puck. You could feel the liveliness out there.

"He raises everybody's level. He expects the best out of you every night. He commands it. He's our captain. He doesn't need a letter. He knows he's our captain. Al's the acting captain, and he's done a great job. But now that we've got Prongs and Al back there, it's even better.''

Tom Wheatley of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch is a frequent contributor to ESPN.com.