Blues look to counter with their best in Game 7 vs. Blackhawks

CHICAGO — It was nearly a week ago, before Game 4 between his St. Louis Blues and the Chicago Blackhawks, that Blues coach Ken Hitchcock reflected on the Blackhawks' potential in this first-round series despite trailing it at the time 2-1.

“We just know right now that this series is so even ... each game has gotten more and more intense and the animosity has gotten to a very high level and I think it’s just going to have to go up for us,” he said. “I don’t know what (Chicago is) going to do, I don’t know what they’re capable of, but their history says they can go to this level no one else can play at, and we’re probably going to have to find that out.”

On the eve of Game 7, the Blues have found out what that level is after the the Blackhawks erased their 3-1 series lead, winning in double overtime in Game 5 and rallying from a 3-1 first-period deficit in Game 6 to win 6-3.

“They raised the bar for a period. Okay? So now it's our turn to answer,” Hitchcock said after Game 6, referencing Chicago’s three-goal second frame. “We've worked hard all year to get to this and we've got an opportunity in front of us. I really want to see us take advantage of it, but we're going to need people to play better. We need our whole team to play better.”

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They learned the hard way what happens when you're not playing a perfect game, when you give the Blackhawks space and aren't smart with the puck.

“They come out and give us a good push and we almost squeeze the sticks a little bit, started playing a little too defensive, giving them a little too much gap," Blues forward Alexander Steen said. "We've got to stay on top of them all the time.”

In a series in which five of the games have been decided by one goal, it’s the little things that will determine who moves on. In six games, the home team has won twice.

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“We worked 82 games this year to get that home ice; if there’s a time to use it, it’s right now,” defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said. “We have a better gear than what we showed (Saturday). We know that. We’ve done it for three games this series. We have to get back to that.”

But three consecutive first-round exits still haunt the Blues, who say there's no use getting caught up in the past.

"You reflect; it's important that you take the positives out of this,” forward Scottie Upshall said. “You realize what went wrong and you fix it, and you focus on the task ahead.