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Ken Hitchcock Should Have Pulled Allen On Powerplay

The St. Louis Blues now find themselves on the brink of yet another crushing first-round exit after a regular season as one of the elite teams in the National Hockey League. If the Blues bow out, either in Game Six at Xcel Energy Center on Sunday afternoon, or in Game Seven back in St. Louis, many people will call for Head Coach Ken Hitchcock’s head.

This is a long discussion, and presumes that with another head coach, the Blues, who have a storied history of playing below their means at the very worst possible time for many decades now under a vast array of head coaches, would somehow have defied that tradition.

Under the greatest coach in professional sports history, Scotty Bowman, the Blues were swept 4-0 in three consecutive Stanley Cup Finals series from 1968-70, and have consistently failed—but failed to fail quite that extravagantly—to reverse that trend ever since.

Hitchcock should be credited for something that could have been lost in the discussion: his instincts in going against the grain and starting youngster Jake Allen in goal for the Blues for this entire series in place of the man who was the team’s number one and presumptive starting netminder for the playoffs, Brian Elliott.

I for one am convinced that the Blues would already be clearing out their lockers had they gone with Elliott, and the Wild experiment, even if nothing else comes of it, has shown that the Blues’ number one goaltender, going forward, should be the guy wearing Number 34. As our own Kate Cimini pointed out recently, this could be a critical insight as the Blues enter the off-season and deal with major contract and cap issues.

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But this series is not over yet. There is still time to pull the iron out of the fire. But the kind of savvy risk-taking Hitch engaged in with his goalie selection will probably need to be employed more often in these last two games for that to happen.

Hitchcock’s First Glaring Coaching Error Of The Playoffs

With 7:44 to go and the Blues down 3-1 to the Wild, a golden opportunity presented itself when Matt Cooke tripped up T.J. Oshie to send the Blues on a desperately-needed powerplay. But “golden opportunity” here needs to be placed in its proper context.

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After Vladimir Tarasenko’s goal midway through the first period, and despite pelting Dubnyk with a barrage of shots (and missing the net on several others), the Blues had failed to score another goal. Dubnyk, who had just been voted a finalist for the Vezina, was a man on a mission with a lot to prove after stopping less than one in three shots in Game Four to put his team down 6-1, and he did so, stopping 36 of 37 shots.

Apr 24, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; Minnesota Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk (40) reacts after being knocked to the ice during the third period of game five of the first round of the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the St. Louis Blues at Scottrade Center. The Minnesota Wild defeat the St. Louis Blues 4-1. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

Based on the way he was playing, and the Blues having scored only once and being down two goals, a 5-on-4 advantage for two minutes probably wasn’t going to get it done. I could see that and most of the 19,000+ fans in the stands could see that.

Fair or not, it shows the difference between a coach destined for glory with the audacity to see it and the courage to will it into reality, and one who is playing it safe and in the end is left shaking the winner’s hand.

Let’s flash back to the 1993 Stanley Cup Finals. The Montreal Canadiens were losing 2-1 to the Los Angeles Kings late in Game Two after dropping Game One, 4-1. Canadiens Head Coach Jacques Demers asked for a measurement of the Kings’ Marty McSorley’s stick curvature and the officials found it was in violation, giving the Habs a crucial powerplay with 1:45 left.

Bear in mind, this is the Stanley Cup Finals, and you’re only losing by one goal, not two.

What did Demers do? He pulled goalie Patrick Roy to give the Habs a two-man advantage.

And the Canadiens’ Eric Desjardins scored on the ensuing 6-on-4 advantage, sending the game to OT, where Desjardins scored another goal to win the game. Here it is, courtesy of Courtside Tweets:

The Kings never recovered and the Habs won the Cup.

The Blues had seven minutes and change left in their game last night when Cooke was sent off, so pulling Allen in that situation, even given how lights-out Dubnyk was playing, might not have made much sense if they were only down by one goal.

But they were down by two. And, given the Wild’s discipline throughout the game and throughout the entire series, another powerplay was almost certainly not forthcoming.

In a situation like this, it really was a no-brainer. Once the Blues could score and get within one, the entire momentum and energy in the building and the battle on the ice would have shifted. The crowd would be raising the roof and the Blues would be smelling blood. They had the most exciting scorer in the NHL on the ice, who had already scored once in the game, and six times in the series.

Apr 18, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Blues fans waive rally towels during the game between the St. Louis Blues and the Minnesota Wild during the first period in game two of the first round of the the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scottrade Center. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

But they had to score a goal first to get to that place. Hitchcock should have pulled Allen and gone for a two-man advantage. To put it more baldly, there was no rational reason not to.

What would be the worst that could happen? The Wild could score and be three up instead of two? Only a few minutes later, he was pulling Allen when they were already down three. Which would have made more sense?

Monday-morning quarterbacking is the easiest, cheapest avocation there is. I am neither a head coach in the NHL nor do I play one on TV. But I sat there and watched those two virtuosic moves of Demers’ on television—first, asking for the measurement to begin with (!), and second, pulling Roy when he was only down by a goal—and then watched the avalanche of glory that erupted full-blown out of those decisions like Athena out of the head of Zeus.

Fair or not, it shows the difference between a coach destined for glory with the audacity to see it and the courage to will it into reality, and one who is playing it safe and in the end is left shaking the winner’s hand. It is a moment that absolutely should be in the conversation if the Blues exit the first round yet again at the hands of a team they positively should have beaten.

And if by some set of circumstances the Blues should find themselves in a similar situation in this series again, Hitchcock would be well-advised to try Demers’ approach next time.

Are you happy with Hitch’s decision? Let us know your thoughts, Blues fans!

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