Blues envision defensive tweaks to help solve playoff shortfalls
ST. LOUIS -- When Blues coach Ken Hitchcock reviewed the past two seasons, he found himself confronted with a harsh reality. Even though St. Louis had been at or near its best in the Stanley Cup playoffs, it simply wasn't good enough.
It's clear that injuries and challenging first-round matchups played a factor, but those excuses don't really interest the veteran coach, and they're largely out of his control anyway.
"The focus for me is (games) 3, 4, 5, 6," Hitchcock says. "When you play as well as we played, you play at the level that we played at and big plays got made by the opposition both years, that's familiar ground."
In 2013, St. Louis won Games 1 and 2, only to lose the next four by one goal each. Los Angeles scored two of its game-winners in the third period or overtime, and the Blues missed plenty of chances.
Last spring the story looked eerily similar against another defending Stanley Cup champion, when St. Louis again took a 2-0 series lead. Chicago rebounded to win the next four, including two overtime games.
"Any time you don't win or accomplish your goal or be where you want to be at the end of the year, then you make changes," defenseman Jay Bouwmeester says. "It doesn't matter if you're a last-place team or a top-end team, you're always looking to get better."
General manager Doug Armstrong did his part in that process, re-signing some key potential free agents such as Bouwmeester and Patrik Berglund, while also bringing in centers Paul Stastny and Jori Lehtera, among others. Now with training camp under way, Hitchcock has a few ideas of his own for improvement.
He noticed a common theme in the Blues' struggles against elite competition, even during the regular season. St. Louis went a combined 2-10 against Anaheim, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Jose, and one of those wins against the Blackhawks came in a shootout.
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"In critical situations we're going to try to put more pressure on the puck," Hitchcock says. "We're going to try to check harder to maintain puck possession."
That didn't happen in the Blues' biggest games, he says, and other teams' stars stepped up and made key plays to earn wins. St. Louis may not have the elite players to match a Corey Perry or a Patrick Sharp in the Western Conference, but Hitchcock hopes his team's depth can put enough constant pressure on opponents to make up the difference.
When the game is on the line, he wants less "defense," which means staying in front of players and giving up ground, and more "checking" to take the initiative and get the puck back. If successful, that strategy should pair nicely with the Blues' improved depth at center to create more possession and lead to more opportunities.
Just don't expect the change in philosophy to suddenly make St. Louis into a physical team. Bouwmeester says this defense isn't built for that kind of game, and the key will be finding the right times to challenge some of the Western Conference's big, talented forwards.
"There's an effort when it's there to do it and not get beat," Bouwmeester says. "There's a difference between being physical and using your body and playing good defense that way as (opposed to) running around and making big hits and getting out of position."
Hitchcock and Armstrong have spent far too much time and effort building this team to make any significant personnel changes, and they're both confident it has the ability to reach the next level. Now it's time to find out if the Blues can make the necessary changes to prove their coach right.
You can follow Luke Thompson on Twitter at @FS_LukeT or email him at lukegthompson87@gmail.com.
