The St. Louis Blues were shockingly quickly eliminated from the playoffs by the LA Kings this past Sunday at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. It was a lot faster then the 2nd place Blues hoped or even expected to be eliminated as they were swept with a 3-1 win by the Kings.
The Blues appeared like there was "No Gas Left In The Tank" as they fell to 8th place Kings. However, these are the same Kings that eliminated the 1st place Canucks in the first round in just 5 games! So is it possible that it's not the Canucks and Blues playing poorly or are the Kings just playing that well? Jack Adams Trophy Finalist Ken Hitchcock stated at the locker clean out today, "What we feel now and (Blues general manager) Doug (Armstrong) said it best, 'This is as close as this organization has ever been to chasing the Cup, but we want to build on this,'"
Hitchcock Also said, "I think there's a lot of lessons here down the line. We'll talk to the players about that over the coming weeks."
The management staff is not the only ones disappointed in the early exit, the players are too. Blues Captain David Backes said, "We're not satisfied with this as a growing process, It's disappointing right now. It stings a lot." The Blues had many leaders on this team and were only 2 points behind the Canucks for winning the President's trophy as the NHL's top team during the regular season. They were lead by David Backes and T.J. Oshie's 54 points and the unexpected dramatic duo Goalie combo of Jaroslav Halak and Brian Elliot with 15 shutouts between the two of them. Elliot, who was signed during free agency this past summer, was expected to be only used as a back-up to Halak. Elliot registered 9 Shutouts and 1.59 GAA.
However, the strong leadership on this team was not enough to make it past the Kings and as a result they are getting ready to hit the Golf Course. Most fans expected huge things from the Blues, but they just didn't show it when it was needed most in the playoffs. The Blues head into the off-season with a few key players who are free agents as of July 1. This list includes the likes of T.J. Oshie, Jason Arnott, Jamie Langenbrunner, David Perron, Barret Jackmen and Chris Stewart. There is a lot of thought and choices that need to be made during this coming off-season. The Blues need to decide who to bring back next season and who to bring in in order to make another run at Lord Stanley's cup next season.
As the Blues clear out the locker room today, the Kings prepare for the Western Conference finals against their divisional enemy the Phoenix Coyotes who sent the Predators home packing last night with the 2-1 win that clinched them the 4-1 series. Kings Captian Dustin Brown said today after their brief practice
“We’ve been in the same division, playing six times a year, a couple preseason games, It’s bringing excitement to different markets, and it shows the parity in the league where you probably have two teams that weren’t expected to be in this situation playing for a chance to be in the Cup finals.” This is set to be a great series match up between the Desert Dogs and the Royal Army as they face off in the Western Conference finals to see who moves on to the Stanley Cup Finals.
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