The Blues may have beaten out Detroit for the Central Division championship, but they're still having a tough time figuring out the Red Wings.
St. Louis blew a two-goal lead in the third period Wednesday and lost for the fourth straight time to the Wings this season. The Blues have now lost a season-high three consecutive games for the second time in 2011-12, and they're just 3-3-4 in their last 10 games.
Blues coach Ken Hitchcock, however, has been preaching lately that he's less concerned about the result on the scoreboard and more focused on how his club is executing overall. And he wasn't disappointed in the team's performance Wednesday.
"We did a lot of real good things," Hitchcock said. "You've got to be happy with it. We played exactly the way we have to play to win hockey games. We made a couple of defensive errors, we didn't protect the puck at the right time, but overall there are a lot of good things to build on."
The Blues took a 2-0 lead but quickly coughed it up on two goals by Johan Franzen.
"We got away from checking, from limiting their chances in the offensive zone," Blues forward T.J. Oshie said. "Obviously they're a great team, they have high-end skill on their team, but we can't be giving up what we did. I think we stopped going at them, started trying to make too many plays."
Prior to the late collapse, the Blues were happy with the way they controlled the game. They outhit the Red Wings 24-12, with Ryan Reaves contributing three hits before being ejected from the game on a questionable five-minute major penalty for boarding. Reaves was back in the lineup after sitting out one game as a healthy scratch.
"I think we're built a certain way, and the last couple of games we got away from it, so he's back in," Hitchcock said. "We're better when we knock people on their seats, and we've got to get back to that mentality with our role players. ... We're not a good team when we play quiet."
Hitchcock said of the call on Reaves, "What I saw on the replay and what I was told, I didn't like the call."
The Blues also didn't like the fact that Franzen got away with shoving and punching Blues captain David Backes at the end of the second period.
"Really surprised. ... We'll see where that goes," Hitchcock said.
The Blues will be going nowhere. They'll stay home to host Phoenix on Friday before wrapping up the regular season Saturday in Dallas.
-- Blues coach Ken Hitchcock took the blame for Wednesday's 3-2 shootout loss to Detroit after the Red Wings scored two goals in a 2-minute, 15-second span in the third period to tie the score. Johan Franzen netted both goals on setups by Pavel Datsyuk. The Blues routinely use David Backes' line against the opposition's top weapons, but on the second Franzen goal, Hitchcock had Jamie Langenbrunner, Jason Arnott and Chris Stewart on the ice.
"For the most part, it was my fault," Hitchcock said. "The second goal, I had the wrong people on the ice. I got caught on a line change, and it ended up in our net. My fault."
-- G Brian Elliott pitched three consecutive shutouts recently, then sat for seven days before returning to the net Wednesday against Detroit. He held the Red Wings scoreless through two periods, but with 6:05 left in regulation, Johan Franzen snapped Elliott's shutout streak at 241:33 and 103 straight shots. Detroit added a second goal by Franzen 2:15 later and then sneaked away with a 3-2 shootout win.
"We turned it into a track meet a little bit," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. "When we were up 2-0, we played very well. We controlled the game 5-on-5, played very, very well. Did a lot of good things and then started playing on the move the last 10 minutes and got caught."
QUOTE TO NOTE: "I understand that there's tough decisions to make every night. Unfortunately, I was one of those tough ones to make. It was a tough pill to swallow. Now I know what I need to do to keep myself in there." -- D Carlo Colaiacovo, after returning to the lineup Wednesday following a one-game stint as a healthy scratch.
