St. Louis Blues: Keys for Success Against Blackhawks

The St. Louis Blues may have had a great regular season and may have won the season series against their central division rival, but questions still arise for this team’s playoff future.

The matchup we all dreaded is here, our St. Louis Blues will be facing off against the Chicago Blackhawks starting Wednesday night. Will we finally see this team put forth the complete effort and get past a tough first round matchup? What’s it going to take for them to do so?

Today, I am going to tackle what it is going to take for these Blues to do what every Blues fan has been waiting for and to outlast the Chicago Blackhawks on their way to a first-round playoff series win.

More Than Tarasenko

Vladimir Tarasenko did what we all knew he was capable of this season and reached the 40 goal plateau (the first Blues player since Brad Boyes) and he will undoubtedly be a force to be reckoned with in this series. However, the Blues need more than Vlad to step up in this series.

As I mentioned last week, Tarasenko is a tremendous talent but what has made the Blues so dangerous lately has been the fact that everyone else has been putting the puck on net as well. The Blues must have a balanced attack against the Blackhawks in order to get past them in the first round.

Guys like Alex Steen and David Backes are going to have to step it up and provide that extra little bit. Not only that but Jaden Schwartz and Robby Fabbri have to do the same by utilizing their speed to get behind the tough defense of the Blackhawks.

Next: Offense From the Blue Line

An Offensive Blue Line

One of the things that has been different about the St. Louis Blues lately has been that the defensemen have become much more comfortable in providing offense from the blue line. We have seen more shots from all of the defensemen, and it has led to more goals from them in the second half of the season.

One thing I have noticed is that out of all of the Blues’ defensemen, Alex Pietrangelo has become much more willing to not only put more shots on net but also to join in on the rush as we saw against Chicago the other night. This is huge, because when Pietrangelo is becoming more involved in the whole game the Blues are a much better team.

To give a reason for why this is such a big deal, Bernie Miklasz explored what the Chicago Blackhawks and Los Angeles Kings have gotten out of their defensemen in the playoffs, compared to what the Blues have in recent years. Bernie discovered that the Blackhawks and Kings defensive output has doubled the Blues’ output from the blue line. Making it imperative that the Blues trend of

Making it imperative that the Blues’ defensemen continue what they have been doing since the All-Star break. One reason the Blues can do this is because of the addition of rookies Colton Parayko and Joel Edmundson whose Corsi For (Shots+Blocks+Misses) of 2,207 was second on the team next to the combo of Pietrangelo and Jay Bouwmeester.

Add this to the numbers we saw from Kevin Shattenkirk and Carl Gunnarsson this year (2,097), and this defensive group is looking really nice. The continuation of this will be very important for the Blues to get past the Blackhawks.

Next: Shutting Down Kane/Panarin

Shutting down Kane/Panarin

The two most important players for the Blackhawks this season has been Patrick Kane and Artemi Panarin. The two of them have combined for 183 points this season, playing on the same line for most of the season. When you throw in Teuvo Teravainen‘s 35 points, this is a pretty nice top line for the Blackhawks.

This line will likely line up against the Blues “shutdown line” of Alex Steen/David Backes/Patrik Berglund. It is imperative that these guys keep Kane and Panarin under wraps. The Blues won’t be able to keep these two scoreless, but they must make their impact low and not let them break out. If Kane is left available to score three or four goals, it will be a tough series for the Blues to win.

However, keeping these two combined to three or four goals would be considered a big win for the Blues and would go a long way towards winning the series.

While these are the two most important players to key in on, the Blues will also need to key in on the Jonathan Toews and Marian Hossa line as well. If the Blues can make someone else try to beat them besides Toews, Kane, Panarin, and Hossa; a series win should be within their reach.

Next: Special Special Teams

Special Teams Need to be Special

As I have mentioned in the past, the Blues special teams have been among the best all season long. They finished the season with the sixth best power play and the third best penalty kill, showing that this team needs to have the two elite special team units rolling to get past the Blackhawks who own the second-best power play in the league and the 20th ranked penalty kill.

While their power play is very good and has been for years, their penalty kill definitely leaves much to be desired. In years past this has been a good unit for the Hawks–the same with their defense which was also ranked 20th in the league this season in goals allowed.

So, the Blues need to take advantage of this and with everyone finally healthy, this could be what puts the Blues above the Hawks in this series.

Without a top penalty kill and power play unit, this team will struggle to win the series despite the Hawks 20th ranked defense. The two teams always play tight and to expect the Hawks to allow a lot of five on five goals throughout the series is simply not a good plan.

Next: Elliott Needs to be the Best he can be

Confidence in Their Ability

The one thing plaguing Blues’ teams in the playoffs has been the team’s confidence in their ability to play at a high level. They have given up early leads and fallen into a rut of poor play as a result.

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This team has a number of players who were not a part of the 2014 loss to Chicago (Paul Stastny, Troy Brouwer, Robby Fabbri, Jori Lehtera, Parayko, Gunnarsson, Edmundson, etc.). This means the “core” can’t be blamed this time.

We also keep hearing how this team has a different feel in the locker room and how they have a different confidence than they have had in the past. This has to show up in the playoffs or they will be out early again.

I love this team and I am confident that they can buck the trend of the last three seasons and get out of the first round despite the tough matchup with Chicago. They have to play like they believe it as well, they have to play like they have played all season long, especially what we saw in the second half.

Next: It is Time for the Blues to Slay the Dragon

They have to put the puck on net and control the puck in Chicago’s zone. This basically means that the Blues have to play like we know they can play. I am looking forward to this series and hope you are too.