It's win or go home time for the St. Louis Blues today. Despite dominating the San Jose Sharks in round one, the Blues haven't been themselves in round two -- or perhaps in the Kings they just found a team that's better at being the Blues than the Blues are. LA's been out-defending the Blues by a huge margin, and it shows in the game scores. After Thursday night's 4-2 loss in which Chris Stewart of all people scored the only two goals, the Blues have found themselves in a hole that very few teams have managed to get out of.
The last time a team rebounded from being down 3-0 in a series was in 2010, when the Philadelphia Flyers stunned the Boston Bruins to win four games in a row and the series. Have the Blues won four games in a row this season? Multiple times. Were they playing better hockey then than they are now? Absolutely. It's going to be tough to win when minimal effort is being shown on the ice.
This has been a tough series to watch, and it'll be a tough game to watch today if the Blues don't get in gear. Coach Ken Hitchcock is hoping some lineup changes could work. You almost have to move pieces around to drive home the message. If they haven't figured out that they absolutely need to win tonight, the Blues deserve to lose. Here's hoping that they give the fans what they deserve -- a chance to see the team at least one more time on ice in the Scottrade Center.
Today's game will air at 2:00 Central Time on NBC.