Chicago Blackhawks At St. Louis Blues Final Score: Blues Shutout Blackhawks 3-0

So many things went right for the Blues that haven’t gone well recently. It’s only been one game, so it’s impossible to pin this all on Ken Hitchcock, but he did something no coach since Mike Keenan’s done: he won in his debut. Puck possession? Check. Goal support for their goaltender? Check. Limiting quality scoring chances? Bingo. Heck, even the power play netted one, and the penalty kill was perfect.

Things’re looking up, and you could tell from the players’ body language and how tough they played on the ice that they feel it. T.J. Oshie, a player who has been the object of much speculation regarding how he’ll play under Hitchcock, scored the game’s final goal. He wristed the puck past Corey Crawford’s outstretched glove hand. Perhaps Crawford’s view was obstructed, perhaps he misjudged the shot – no matter, it went in, and Oshie had his second point of the night, as did Kevin Shattenkirk and Barret Jackman.

Halak wound up with his 17th career shut out, Chris Stewart scored, and three players had two-point nights. Factor in the special teams, and the Hitchcock Era seems to be off to a good start. Fans get to see if that continues on Thursday night when the currently slumping Toronto Maple Leafs are in town.

Chicago Blackhawks At St. Louis Blues Second Period Score: Blues Convert On Power Play, Lead 2-0

Hitchcock mentioned to the media today that he would have the Blues’ power play woes fixed after one practice. Lo and behold, showing them a system to play and a proper formation instead of floating aimlessly, and Chris Stewart tips in a shot from T.J. Oshie to put the Blues up 2-0 and give them just their fifth powerplay goal of the season. The umbrella arrangement called for a big body in front of the net, and Chris Stewart is an excellent choice to obstruct Corey Crawford’s view. He’s also an immovable object for most opposition players to deal with.

The Blues wound up on two penalty kills back to back – Ian Cole for tripping and T.J. Oshie for hooking – but successfully killed both off. They got a bit of help from a quick whistle, as Dave Bolland clearly knocked the puck in underneath Jaroslav Halak’s pads. No one could determine where the puck was right before that, the whistle was blown, and Bolland argued to no avail.

Hopefully this momentum will continue into the third period, because the Blues are playing extremely well.

Chicago Blackhawks At St. Louis Blues Score: Blues up, 1-0

The Blues’ first period under new coach Ken Hitchcock was as solid of a puck possession period as they’ve played all year. They actually look like a unit out there, rather than six guys who know what they should be doing, but just can’t pull it off. Aside from a bit of a slip-up by Ian Cole at the blue line, their zone possession’s been good, their defense has been solid and they’ve limited shots on Jaroslav Halak to just eight. The upshot with that is that they were all shots Halak could clearly see, mostly from farther out so he could set in position in enough time to handle it.

The lone goal came at 8:15 of the first period from Vladimir Sobotka, who snagged a brilliant up-ice pass from Kevin Shattenkirk. Shattenkirk undressed Blackhawks defenseman John Scott, whose slow reaction time allowed him to get the pass to Sobotka. Sobotka charged the net, got control of the puck and banked it in past Chicago goaltender Corey Crawford for the first goal of the game.

Ryan Reaves and Daniel Carcillo also got into a scrap, with Carcillo taking exception to a hit that Reaves put on Patrick Kane. It was a brief tilt, with Reaves, who has taken boxing lessons over the summer (presumably from Evander Kane) stunned Carcillo with a right that left the Blackhawk flailing his arms, apparently calling for the linesmen to come over and break the fight up.

Lots of hitting, lots of defensive responsibility, and lots of control are the words du jour for this game so far. Here’s hoping it keeps up.

Chicago Blackhawks At St. Louis Blues: Ian Cole Called Up, Set To Make Season Debut Tonight

Ian Cole was recalled from the Peoria Rivermen on Sunday night. It’s understandable how some fans could have missed this tidbit of information, what with some coach stuff going on or something. This means that the Blues have nine defensemen up, but with Kent Huskins out with a ankle injury since October 30th, and Nikita Nikitin and Taylor Chorney not filling the hole in the line-up well, Cole was next on the depth chart. He was one of the last cuts at the Blues’ training camp during preseason, and performed well during the preseason games.

In 26 games with the Blues last season – the last time the team had the injured defenseman bug – Cole had one goal, three assists, and was a +6. According to Louie Korac, he’ll be paired up with Roman Polak tonight, and the rest of the lines – at least for the start – will remain the same.

Chicago Blackhawks At St. Louis Blues: New Coach Ken Hitchcock Makes Premiere Tonight

The fans at Scottrade Center will get a chance to welcome new coach Ken Hitchcock to his spot behind the bench tonight. Where it goes from there is up to the players.