So weirdly, my guide shows Wings/Lightning on NBC and then 'Regional Coverage' (and mentions the Blues game) on NBCSN. So if the game isn't on NBC for some of you, check the sister station.
ST. LOUIS - After a 4-2 loss in Game 1, Blues Head Coach Ken Hitchcock says he won’t change his lineup.
But he might make a tweak.
In fact, expect T.J. Oshie and David Backes to be reunited on the same line when the puck drops on Game 2 on Saturday at 2 p.m. (NBC, Y98 FM).
“There’s going to be instant chemistry there,” Oshie said after the team’s practice Friday at the Ice Zone. “We’ve played together for so long that when we play with someone else, we usually know it’s only a matter of time before we get back together.”
Late in Game 1 and at Friday’s practice, Hitchcock swapped Oshie with Berglund. For now, that’s the only tweak he’s expected to make.
“Not making any lineup changes,” Hitchcock said. “We need to play better. We need to play our way at a higher level, and if we do that, we’ll be in good shape. I think every aspect of our game needs to be amped up a little bit if we expect to beat this team. They’re a real good team, and we’re going to have to be on top of our game to beat them.”
It’s a safe assumption that the Blues weren’t on top of their game when the best-of-7 series opened on Thursday. Hitchcock liked the energy in the first period and in the third, but said his team was outplayed in the second.
“I thought they out-checked us. I thought their determination to defend was greater than ours was,” Hitchcock said. “There were ebbs and flows. We were really good in stages, they were better in more stages. I think their checking and their compete on the puck was at a little bit higher level throughout the lineup than ours was.
“They make you earn your stripes. It’s our job to earn our stripes,” Hitchcock added. “I thought we had times where we let them off the hook when we didn’t have to, and that fed the engine that fed the odd-man rushes. We gave up too many and it was a lot of the time when we had the puck. It was us having the puck in the offensive zone, getting checked off the puck, turning it over, and boom, they’re gone. And they’ve got the foot speed to go. We fed that engine a little too much.”
ALLEN STAYS IN
Jake Allen said he felt comfortable in his Stanley Cup Playoff debut Thursday. He stopped 25 of the 27 shots he faced.
“It was just another game for me,” Allen said. ““The stakes were a little more meaningful, but it was another game.
Including the regular season, Allen has allowed two or fewer goals in nine consecutive games, stopping 216 of 228 shots (1.40 goals-against average, .947 save-percentage).
“We got one game out of the way,” Allen said of Thursday’s loss. “It wasn’t our best. It will only get better from here…once we get a complete game in there, the result will be better. We know what to do, we know what to expect now.”
PROJECTED LINES
Forwards
Dmitrij Jaskin - David Backes - T.J. Oshie
Alexander Steen - Jori Lehtera - Vladimir Tarasenko
Jaden Schwartz - Paul Stastny - Patrik Berglund
Steve Ott - Marcel Goc - Ryan Reaves
Defense
Carl Gunnarsson - Alex Pietrangelo
Jay Bouwmeester - Zbynek Michalek
Barret Jackman - Kevin Shattenkirk
Goalie
Jake Allen
BLUE NOTES
Alexander Steen became the fifth Blues player to score at least two shorthanded goals in the postseason, joining Scott Young, Doug Gilmour, Brett Hull and Peter Zezel.
Paul Stastny leads all current Blues with 18 points (eight goals, 10 assists) in 22 playoff games. Ten of those points came against Minnesota in the first round last season.
The Blues pregame rally begins at 11:30 a.m. at the Clark Avenue Plaza outside Scottrade Center and features live music and food from Pappy’s Smokehouse and Strange Donuts. Doors to Scottrade Center open at 12:30 p.m. The Blues are encouraging fans to allow additional travel time due to traffic from the Cardinals game and the “I Love Lucy” show at Peabody Opera House.
The popular excuse for the St. Louis Blues after a defeat in Game 1 centered around a four-day layoff that may have caused them to lose a step following the season finale.
The problem? The Minnesota Wild, who were the Blues' opponent in that finale, didn't seem to mind.
Minnesota now looks to head home with a 2-0 series advantage as St. Louis attempts to figure out what went wrong heading into Saturday's matchup.
Before three minutes had ticked off the clock Thursday, Jason Zucker had given the Wild the lead. Matt Dumba scored with just over four minutes gone in the second period, and Minnesota cruised to a 4-2 victory.
St. Louis ended the Wild's NHL record-tying 12-game road winning streak with a victory by the same score last Saturday. The break apparently had more of an effect on the Blues.
"I don't know if it was nerves or too much time off or what, but we didn't bring our `A' game from the drop of the puck," captain David Backes said.
Maybe coach Ken Hitchcock saw it coming all along.
"We have not played well off of layoffs all year. This is probably another example of that," Hitchcock said. "We're going to have to play better. Killer instinct comes in a number of fashions."
It's not to say Minnesota didn't feel the layoff, too. The Wild killed both power plays after they had a league-best 90.8 percent penalty-kill rate since the All-Star break.
"I think for both teams after many days off, it's like starting a season almost," captain Mikko Koivu said. "It's not an easy thing to do. Your emotions are high. After a couple shifts it goes down a little bit."
The Wild hadn't won Game 1 in any of their previous seven playoff series, and they came in having dropped 16 of their previous 18 postseason road contests.
"That's a good start for us," coach Mike Yeo said. "I think we have to make sure that we use this game, we look at the video, and there's certainly some areas where we know we can be better. But a lot of good things to take from it, for sure."
Devan Dubnyk won his playoff debut with 19 saves after going 27-9-2 with a 1.78 goals-against average in 39 starts after being acquired in January, leading Minnesota's charge to a third consecutive postseason berth.
"We have to leave this one behind and take the good things out of it but move to the second one," Koivu said. "We know the further it's going to go, the tougher it's going to get. We have to enjoy this one for a couple minutes and start to prepare for Saturday's game."
St. Louis won't be able to use the layoff as an excuse this time.
"It almost took until the third period until we finally got our legs going and played our brand of hockey," Backes said. "We need that for a full 60 in order to win games against this team and (we get) another chance on Saturday."
Hitchcock said that Jake Allen will be in net after getting the start ahead of Brian Elliott on Thursday. Allen, who went 5-1-1 with a 1.15 GAA in his last seven starts of the season, made 25 saves.
"I don't think we expected to win four straight," Allen said. "We got one out of the way, got the nerves or the playoff jitters or whatever you want to call it out of the way. Saturday's a new day."
