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.