St. Louis Blues Morning Links: Finishing Is Key To Everything

Good morning Blues fans! Today is another day off for the Note as they prepare to finish things off on the road.

The St. Louis Blues might have plenty of opportunities to finish off their series with the Minnesota Wild. They need to be doing everything possible to end things tomorrow afternoon though.

The Blues, themselves, need to focus on their game and that alone. However, viewing things in a broader spectrum puts a little more emphasis on ending this series as quickly as possible.

With the Nashville Predators sweep of the Chicago Blackhawks, the Blues don’t want to be spending too much time with Minnesota anymore. An extra game is actually not a bad thing, but beyond that you push it.

The reason an extra game with the Wild is not a terrible thing is because there is going to be so much time between series. If the Blues had swept, there could have been as many as nine or more days before they played again.

Granted, their potential future opponent in Nashville would be under the same predicament, but it is better to keep on top of your game.

I’ve heard a lot of people go on and on about rest. That’s right, the Blues need rest and any team could use some rest at this juncture of the season.

Many of the NHL teams had their “bye” week later in the season though. Almost everyone came out of that bye week and hit a losing streak. That was only five days off.

The Blues ended up losing five games in a row following their bye week. There might be less to play for during the regular season, but you just don’t want large gaps between games because practice can only do so much.

St. Louis needs to end the series. You don’t want to be wasting energy on the Wild that could be focused on the Predators, but not sweeping is not the end of the world either. At least this way the Blues will not be sitting on their butts.

Of course, this is all hindsight. Nobody was going to say “oh, but you should have lost Game 4 to keep playing,” if the Blues had swept.

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We’d all rather be done with this series. However, the reality is the series will continue at least one game and hopefully that game alone.

As the title stated, finishing will be paramount in that contest. The Blues need to finish their checks and be more physical. They need to finish their scoring chances as the team that has put in the first goal won every game. St. Louis must finish the series.

The Blues wasted so much energy against Chicago and Dallas in 2016. With Chicago out of the way and a decent record against two of their three possible remaining opponents, the Blues have to find that killer instinct.

That was, perhaps, the most disappointing thing about losing Game 4. St. Louis played like a team that knew they could afford to lose. The longer you have that mindset, the easier it is to underperform.

St. Louis needs to treat each game like it is do-or-die. It might take a ton of energy from Minnesota to win four in a row, but it also takes energy out of the Blues for each continuing game.

Time to finish things off.

Here are your St. Louis Blues Morning Links to get your day started off right.

The St. Louis Blues will apparently have a decision to make regarding their lineup Saturday. In a rare bit of candidness, the team is reporting that Paul Stastny might be available for selection in Game 5. Whether he suits up remains to be seen. (STLToday)
Call it the Cardinals affect, call it the lack of a tested rivalry or call it what you will. The bottom line is fewer people are tuning in to watch the Blues in this opening round than in years past. Turn your TV’s on you fools. (Post-Dispatch)

The St. Louis Blues are going to roll the dice with their playoff lineup for the foreseeable future. The team will pray for health as they just sent one of their insurance pieces back down to Chicago in the AHL. (Arch Authority)

There will be a new look to the Buffalo Sabres next season. Despite a lot of talent (anyone remember Edmonton’s early days?) the Sabres decided to clean house and start anew with a new GM and coach. (NHL)

The NHL might have thought the incident was over when Dennis Wideman’s suspension was overturned after the fact. Far from it as the linesman that was injured is seeking compensation. (ESPN)

Have a great day Blues fans!

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