The St. Louis Blues are even with the San Jose Sharks as the two teams prepare to play Game 3 in the Western Conference Final Thursday night, but Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock knows his team has not played the way it did in the first two rounds of the playoffs.
While the Blues won the first game of the series on their home ice by a 2-1 margin, the Sharks appeared to have the better of the play and could easily have taken the game.
San Jose ratcheted up the intensity in Game 2 and pulled off 4-0 victory, leaving Hitchcock unhappy with his team's effort. The Blues are a tough, physical outifit when they are playing well, and they punish opponents with regularity. That has not happened against the Sharks.
Hitchcock was blunt with his players when they looked at video of the game Wednesday morning.
"If you're worried about future relationships, you're in the wrong business at this time of year," Hitchcock told NHL.com writer Nicholas J. Cotsonika. "So direct coaching, eye-to-eye coaching, works. ... It's helping them understand what took place so they get rid of the emotion, get into the tactics of it."
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Steve Silverman
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