Minor Improvements Could Prompt Major Results as St. Louis Blues Face Brink of Elimination in Game 6

While the St. Louis Blues are 2-0 in elimination games this season, swimming past the San Jose Sharks for two more victories will prove far from easy.

From a half-empty perspective, Ken Hitchcock has never coached the St. Louis Blues to a Game 6 victory on any level of playoffs. But from a half-full perspective, the Blues could be a few minor adjustments away from competing in their first Stanley Cup round since 1970.

One area that could use improvement is St. Louis’s special teams units, which combined for a 106.66 percent power play plus penalty kill rate in the regular season. Not only are the Blues behind this total in the Western Conference Finals by nearly 5 percent, but the Sharks have the best playoff rate of power play plus penalty kill at 108.3 percent. 

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In order to avoid such troubles, the Blues need to avoid falling into traps that lead to penalties or approach the game more patiently to force the opposition to make mental mistakes with a series lead and consequentially receive more penalties. This strategy was relevant in Game 5, when the Blues forced the Sharks to the penalty box for four different calls on five separate 2-minute minor penalties.

As a byproduct, special teams enhancements could not only create more scoring opportunities for the Blues, but limit the Sharks from being able to bite back into games. Less than 60 percent of San Jose’s goals have resulted from even-strength play, and the Blues have registered 85 shots on goal against Martin Jones in 5-on-5 situations throughout the series.

While the Blues have performed better in more balanced on-ice situations, the team has fallen into some streaky stretches in the third round. In addition to a scoreless stretch of over 150 minutes between Games 1-4, the Blues’ top 3 points-per-game finishers of the regular season, Vladimir Tarasenko, Alex Steen and Paul Stastny, have combined for no goals and only five assists against the Sharks.

However, St. Louis has shown resiliency in road contests by averaging 4.5 goals per game in playoff victories away from Scottrade Center. After scoring their first four goals in Game 4 within the first half of the game, the Blues will need a similar effort to take out the Sharks early in Game 6 and sustain positive momentum in a venue where the team has lost four of their last five games.

From St. Louis’s standpoint, the single most important decision could be choosing one starting goaltender to ride for the rest of the Western Conference Finals. The Blues are expected to use Brian Elliott as the go-to netminder for Game 6. He has has compiled a .934 save percentage in his four contests against the Sharks this year and has started 18 consecutive games in two different parts of the season.

Jake Allen took over the net for Games 4 and 5 more than 48 days removed from his last start and kept the Blues within striking distance by facing a deficit only two periods. Now that St. Louis has switched back to Elliott, the Blues can prepare a game plan that matches Elliott’s butterfly style by expecting more defensive screening and fewer rebounds.

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If the Blues are able to correct the little parts of the game for the rest of the series, one could argue that San Jose has just as just as much of a target on their back. The Sharks were eliminated in the Western Conference Finals in 2010 and 2011, and lost a 3-0 lead in the 2014 opening round, their last taste of playoffs prior to this season.