Staying in attack mode allowing Blues to dictate late

Instead of sitting back on their heels, team is staying 

aggressive and confidently winning games without playing score

By LOU KORAC
HAZELWOOD, Mo. -- It's perhaps taken some time for the Blues to get accustomed to all of Mike Yeo's coaching intricacies, but continuing to push forward protecting a third-period lead has seemed to translate into that killer instinct mentality.

Going back to the days when Ken Hitchcock coached the Blues, they were a team that was solid holding leads after two periods or even when they'd grab a goal during a tie game, the Blues were strong at holding that lead. But to fans' frustration, there were also multiple times when sitting back on such lead would result in lost games or even having to refuel and go back at it again trying to grab momentum again.

(St. Louis Blues photo)

Blues center Paul Stastny (26) sets a screen in front of Devils goalie Cory

Schneider Tuesday during the Blues' 3-1 victory.

But it seems like the Blues have righted that ship, developing that killer instinct.

It was none more evident than Tuesday in New Jersey against the Devils that resulted in a 3-1 victory, the Blues' franchise best 12th win in the first 16 games to begin a season.

A 1-1 game turned into a 2-1 lead 32 seconds into the final 20 minutes when Jaden Schwartz scored on the power play. More times than not, teams would go into sort of a prevent defense type of game and do everything possible to protect it.

Not these Blues. Instead, they were in full attack mode, going for the jugular and doing everything possible to turn a 2-1 game into 3-, 4-, 5-1 and beyond. If not for some missed opportunities and key saves from Devils netminder Cory Schneider, it would have been a full-out blowout victory after the Blues outshot the Devils 19-4.

"Certainly I know that every game can be a little bit different, but I think what we are seeing is that every game, more and more to your point, every game right now we have a mindset and an idea of how we want to play the game," Yeo said. "We preach on it and we harp on it all the time. For me, what was really impressive about (Tuesday) night was obviously the third period and the way we played when we had the lead. We had the most amount of scoring chances in the third period and maybe the most amount of in the offensive zone and our ability to execute when you get up there." 

The Blues were in that prevent mode early in the season, playing the right way before letting leads slip away.

It happened opening night in Pittsburgh when a 4-2 lead late turned into a 4-4 game before Alex Pietrangelo salvaged the second point with an overtime goal. 

In the home opener, it was never in doubt, but a 3-0 lead in the third period needed a Vladimir Tarasenko goal sandwiched between two Dallas Stars goals.

Two days later in Brooklyn, N.Y., the Blues lost a 2-0 lead to the New York Islanders in the final seven minutes before, again, salvaging a second point in a 3-2 shootout victory, and the following night, they protected a 2-1 lead against the New York Rangers before Carter Hutton had to be scintillating with 16 saves before Schwartz sealed a 3-1 win with an empty-net goal.

In Denver on Oct. 19, yes, there were some strange bounces in that game, a 4-3 Blues win, but they had trouble protecting a 3-1 lead.

These were the types of instances the Blues had been trying to get away from.

They've done a much better of it and have taken on a new mindset: continue to do the things that got you the lead.

"We don't ever want to be a team that sits back," defenseman Robert Bortuzzo said. "We're going to be smart in our own structure, but when opportunities arise, we're going to take the chance to capitalize and stretch leads. Overall, I thought our third period (Tuesday) was great."

Against the Devils, once Schwartz scored, the Blues didn't sit back and allow the Devils to dictate play. They didn't place the game in Jake Allen's hands to be the one-all, final barrier remaining to crack. Instead, they stayed the course, which was put pucks in good spots, forechecked, possessed the puck, dictated play and made New Jersey chase the action.

"You want to do that," Schwartz said. "I think there's times in games this year where we sat back a little bit and I think we've learned from that. That's never good when you're just giving teams waves and letting them have speed through the neutral zone. You want to stay on it. That's something that we're learning for sure."

Instead of playing a 2-1 score, the Blues just simply played the game.

"It kind of showed that we can kind of push them out and take over the game," defenseman Carl Gunnarsson said. "Why stop there? It was a good feeling. I don't think they really had the, I don't know if it was the energy or what, but it didn't feel like they had that pushback.

"Going back to the first few games, I think we just sat back a little bit in the beginning and you see that didn't work. (Teams) almost came back a couple times. We haven't talked about doing more offense (as defensemen), but it's more like not siting back and still just play our game no matter what the score is, step on their throat when they're down. ... Looking at the scores and looking at the games, we keep winning. ... If we can keep doing this, push back or even dictate the game, in that area, I think we're in a good spot."

Starting with their win over Calgary on Oct. 25, it's been that mentality of pushing the pencil and trying to play the game the way the Blues have success. They did it in Carolina in a 2-1 win when Brayden Schenn scored midway through to break the tie, they did it the following night at home in a 4-1 win against Columbus and again against the Los Angeles Kings on Oct. 30 and last Saturday against Toronto even though the Blues did let their foot off the proverbial gas a bit after going up 6-2.

Bottom line is the Blues (12-3-1), who host Arizona tonight at Scottrade Center, seemed to have figured out the proper method how to take control of games with a lead in hand.

(St. Louis Blues photo)

Blues forward Vladimir Sobotka (left) moves the puck past defenseman

Andy Greene of the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday at Prudential Center. 

"It starts with the leadership, obviously, and those guys going out there and doing it," Yeo said. "Every game is going to be different, but we are trying to establish that mentality that regardless of the score, we're going to get out there, we're going to play our game and that might mean we score a goal, they score a goal. It shouldn't change, and for us, it's sort of the next man up, the next man over the boards mentality. If we can avoid the big momentum swings in a hockey game, I think you do that by when you're sitting on the bench, you should focus on your next shift and have an idea of what you're trying to accomplish and that means we might have one or two or three bad shifts in a row, but somebody's able to get out there and turn things in the right direction and right now, we have a lot of individuals that are helping us do that.

"We talk about guys staying on their process and sort of just making sure that we go out and do the things we have to do shift after shift and if you have that type of mentality, then that's what allows you to play a 60-minute game and you play a 60-minute game, obviously not a big secret, you give yourself a good chance to win it."