Blues Need To Be Better, Including Tarasenko

from Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch,

For the Blues, the Stanley Cup playoffs this season are about accomplishing a first in the franchise’s history.
Of course, that has to do with a trophy.
The club is not going to reach that goal by doing what it did for the first time in its playoff history in Game 3 of the Western Conference finals Thursday night.
The Blues were dumped 3-0 by San Jose, marking the only time the team has been blanked in back-to-back postseason games since its inception in 1967-68. On the heels of their 4-0 loss to the Sharks in Game 2, they are now behind two games to one in the best-of-seven series, the first time the club has trailed a series after three games in these playoffs.
The crowd of 17,562 at SAP Center and the folks back in St. Louis probably could agree on this: Heading into Game 4 Saturday, San Jose is thoroughly in control.
“They can think what they want,” Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said. “We know we’ve got more in here, we know we’ve got another level. They took it up a notch and now it’s up to us to get some rest and take it up a few more notches on Saturday.”

continued

from Benjamin Hochman of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch,

I asked coach Ken Hitchcock postgame about No. 91, who finished the game with more hits (three) than shots on goal (two). Hitch spoke candidly for one minute and 25 seconds about his star.
“Well, the thing that would help him, we can’t give him — which is more experience,” said Hitch, whose team was shut out again, this time 3-0 Thursday at San Jose. “Vladi’s learning some really hard lessons. Playoffs are for veteran players. And the veteran players on both teams have this thing dialed up. As you experience as a younger player, you’re going to have to learn to fight through a lot if you expect to score. We would like him to learn that lesson a day from now, but we’re not sure about the time frame.
“Some guys never learn it, some guys can’t do it, some guys learn it and really become special scoring players. But he’s going to have to fight through everything if he expects to score a goal and contribute offensively. And there are some days he’s going to be an effective player (in a game) and not even get a point, but he’s going to have to have an understanding of what it takes to play at this time of year, in the conference final, with 100 percent commitment on the other side.”

Blues Need To Be Better, Including Tarasenko

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