After Emotional High Of Winter Classic Experience, Blues Get Back To Grind, Need To Find Extra Gear

MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- The emotional high of experiencing the NHL’s grandest outdoor stage now behind them, with victory in tow, the St. Louis Blues now much shift focus to the rest of the grind.

A 6-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks capped a three-night, three-day experience the Blues (18-17-4) got to enjoy, not only for themselves but for their family and extended friends in the process.

The team left for Chicago on Sunday late afternoon before arriving back in St. Louis Wednesday morning, then took the day to recuperate before getting onto the ice again to prepare for the grind of the schedule, beginning Friday at home against the upstart Ottawa Senators, then head back to the road for stops against the Columbus Blue Jackets Saturday and Minnesota Wild on Tuesday.

“I think it was nice to have the day off the day after,” Blues forward Jake Neighbours said. “Obviously everyone getting back to St. Louis and getting everyone’s families back home and then a good practice day today kind of resets you a little bit. It was an emotional high and an amazing event, something we’re all excited and honored to be a part of. But it’s back to normal now, normal games and try and build off the win we had.”

The coaching staff put the players through a hard but shortened practice to get the legs going again and get the focus in the right areas.

“I thought we were really good in practice today,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “Energy, execution and the speed and the competitiveness was where you want it to be in practice. It allows you to be good in games. It’s exciting to see the team start to develop that.”

The whole concept for Thursday was to, “I think just getting our feet moving a little bit,” Neighbours said. “It was such an emotional high being out there and playing in that game (at Wrigley Field). I think just getting out today, getting the legs moving, moving the puck around a little bit and getting back to normal.”

And the coaching staff knew that.

“It’s just making sure you’re re-energized because it’s an emotional toll,” Montgomery said. “It’s a big event, great event, Wrigley Field was awesome. Our fans were awesome. The players went out and played like they loved it.”

They loved it because as Blackhawks coach Anders Sorensen said postgame, “the difference is they win the battles around both nets. They won in front of our net. They won in front of their net. … The compete level around the net is really what it boils down to.”

The Blues had layers around Blackhawks goalie Petr Mrazek the entire game and scored as a result. Justin Faulk’s goal and Cam Fowler’s second goal of the game were perfect examples of taking a goalie’s eyes away, and Dylan Holloway and Alexandre Texier getting to the net for rebounds resulted in goals.

And at the other end, Jordan Binnington, for the most part, was able to see pucks, and there was limited amount of traffic in his crease due to Blues defensemen doing a good job of boxing out.

“I think we’re really good in front of our own net,” Neighbours said. “I think we do for most nights a really good job of collapsing in front of our goalies and making it hard on teams to go there.

“For us, it’s about winning the offensive net and that’s obviously a harder battle. For us as forwards, you’ve got to be willing to get in there and get hungry. You look at our goals, they’re all guys getting to the net, in tight, screening shots from the points. That kind of stuff’s important and it’s something we’ve got to continue to do.”

The Blues have scored 19 goals the past four games and a large part of it is the willingness to get to the net front.

It was a challenge in the previous five games when they scored just seven goals.

“It’s an area we’ve talked about coming back from Christmas that we need to be better offensively,” Montgomery said. “Defensively, we’ve been pretty good here.”

* NOTES – Defenseman Justin Faulk and forward Oskar Sundqvist each missed practice Thursday. Faulk took a maintenance day and Sundqvist, “is a little ill,” Montgomery said.

We’ll see what each player’s status is in the morning prior to facing the Senators, and Radek Faksa (lower-body injury) remains out from the skate cut Dec. 10 against the Vancouver Canucks.

Defensemen Nick Leddy (lower body) and Torey Krug (ankle) each was on the trip to Chicago to enjoy the experience with the team.

We know Krug is done for the year, but Leddy, who hasn’t played since Oct. 15, seemed to be in good spirits but remains out.

“Well, it’s status quo right now, but he has had some good news,” Montgomery said. “But it’s not at the level yet where he can start practicing with us.”