ST. LOUIS -- After the Blues gave up nine goals on the first 37 power plays against them this season, they knew something had to change.
Last year proved the benefits of a dominant penalty kill, and especially with Paul Stastny sidelined by injury, the personnel hadn't changed enough to warrant such a dropoff. Coach Ken Hitchcock has emphasized repeatedly the need to be better -- both in public and in the locker room -- and his players seem to have gotten the message.
"We had an honest conversation with ourselves and said this needs to get better," defenseman Alex Pietrangelo says. "If we want to win hockey games, we're going to have to start killing penalties better."
They've done that with 11 consecutive successful penalty kills, thanks to more pressure and continued great play in net by Brian Elliott and Jake Allen. Even in last Saturday's 2-1 loss, Elliott denied all five Predators shots on two pressure-filled power plays.
St. Louis actually overcame five power-play goals in four games at the start of its winning streak, capped off by an early goal for New York Rangers forward Chris Kreider and one of the least successful power-play units in the league. But that left little margin for error, with three of the four games going to overtime, and three decided by shootouts.
The other side of special teams had its own problems as well, with Vladimir Tarasenko's overtime game-winner against Dallas as the only power-play goal in the last 17 chances prior to the matchup with the Rangers. Even shots were often hard to find for a deep group relying too heavily on individual play.
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Maybe it was inevitable, then, that perhaps the most spectacular individual play in the NHL this season marked a turning point for the Blues' special teams. Tarasenko's magical skating through the entire Rangers team before a stunning one-handed finish propelled St. Louis to a win and marked the first of four goals on its next nine power plays.
"We're trying to simplify," says Pietrangelo, who scored his lone goal this season on a power play against Calgary. "Get pucks toward the net and trying not to do too much. When we play north and get a lot of shots with the bodies and skill we have up front, we're able to make a lot of plays off of that."
At the other end of the ice, Pietrangelo says communication and work ethic have been the keys on the penalty kill, where Steen says the Blues have finally found chemistry. He says Hitchcock's emphasis in practice hasn't changed from a year ago, when St. Louis ranked second in the league with an 85.7 percent success rate, and the results are starting to look similar.
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"I think it's been really competitive and gritty and everything you like to see," Hitchcock says. "It's been excellent and I'm really pleased."
They should be able to continue their scoreless streak Tuesday night against an historically bad Buffalo team that ranks dead last at just 4 percent on the power play, including an abysmal 0 for 20 on the road. No team in the NHL has finished with a power-play percentage below 10 percent since Minnesota in the 2000-01 season, and the Wild were still much better than this year's Sabres at 9.6 percent.
Steen says special teams are one of the most important aspects of hockey today, and the Blues' penalty kill still has a ways to go to dig out of its early hole. They're 17th in the league at just under 80 percent, though their power play comes in at fifth with a success rate of 24.5 percent.
Even beyond those numbers, though, Pietrangelo says a power-play goal or a strong penalty kill can generate some crucial momentum in a tight game. Considering those are the only types of games St. Louis has played lately, it could use any boost it can get.
You can follow Luke Thompson on Twitter at @FS_LukeT or email him at lukegthompson87@gmail.com.
