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St. Louis Blues seek emotional balance [St. Louis Post-Dispatch](St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Apr. 7--PHOENIX -- When the Blues step onto the ice tonight against the Phoenix Coyotes, they'll be looking to balance their emotions better than they have recently. After Saturday's 5-4 overtime loss at Dallas, Blues forward Keith Tkachuk said the club was overconfident heading into the game. In other games, players have admitted the team was nervous. As the outcomes become even more critical to their playoff chances, with only three regular-season games remaining, the Blues said after Monday's practice in Phoenix that they need to find a happy medium. "Maybe some of the inexperience we have in this locker room (leads to) that," Blues forward Dan Hinote said. "We either ride too high or we ride too low, when you just have to accept that it's another game. Regardless of the fact that it could make or break our season, we know that. You have to have that intensity and desperation, but at the same time, you can't get too high or too low prior to the game because it's going to alter how you play." The Blues remain in ninth place in the Western Conference, tied with eighth-place Nashville with 86 points but trailing the Predators in victories (39-38), which is the No. 1 tiebreaker. Everyone from Blues President John Davidson on down felt the club left a point on the table Saturday in Dallas. The Stars opened 1-0 and 2-1 leads on the Blues, who eventually turned up their intensity to go ahead 4-3 in the third period, only to see that disappear. "Whatever we were going into Dallas, whether it was nervous or being overconfident, we can't be that," Blues coach Andy Murray said. "We have to be a team that just goes out and plays." Murray likened the situation to David Cone's perfect game as a pitcher for the New York Yankees in 1999. "Going into the ninth inning, (Cone) said he was on the bench telling himself, 'Don't screw this up,'" Murray said. "He started having negative thoughts. Then before he went out to pitch, he said, 'Just go out and do it.' "We can't be worried about screwing up, we just have to go out and do it. The bottom line is we have to go out and play real good. If we're real good tomorrow night against Phoenix, we'll beat them. If we're not real good, we won't." Blues right winger Brad Boyes acknowledged the pressure of the situation, but said, "It's a good thing that we look at it that way. There's not three months left; we've got three games left. "The position we're in, we've got to understand that we're desperate all the time. It's tough to do, but you try to learn how to do that when you're going through it. I think it comes from coaches, from leaders ... to make sure everyone is on an even keel ... projecting the same level of confidence or calmness." Two-thirds of the Blues roster has never participated in a playoff game, or even a playoff push at the end of the season. Therefore, players such as second-year forward David Perron must rely on the veterans to guide them. "I have a huge amount of respect for guys like Jay (McKee) and Danny (Hinote)," Perron said. "They've been through a lot of playoffs. As a kid, I was watching them play and now I play with them. It's an honor, and for sure when they're out there, I try to see what they're doing ... what makes them successful, and I try to bring it to my game." Hinote welcomes that responsibility. "If they can look to our veterans and see that we have a calm demeanor, that's the best thing we can do ... provide examples," Hinote said. "You can talk till you're blue in the face about what needs to be done, but until they've been through it, it's going to be hard for them to understand. Hopefully we've learned from how we've started the last couple of games, in Chicago and Dallas, and we don't make those mistakes again." |