The Blues PP resurgence started in March. Hitchcock specifically mentioned this in the post-game presser saying the PP has been very good for about 40 days now. Even when the Blues were blowing games at the end of the season, the PP was working.DaDitka wrote:Where the (Frank) has this PP been all season? And that is a fair question because we aren't doing this with fancy passes...we're doing it by crashing the net and planing azzes (Bergie) in the crease. This tells me that this success is sustainable (obviously not at this pace) but since it's easy to see what is different..it's easier to believe this success can be sustained.
What they changed. The Blues used to set their points with one right-handed and one left-handed shooter. Now, one unit has two left-handed shots at the points and the other has two right-handed shots at the points. Hitch explained this as turning the power play into a shooting power play, instead of a passing power play trying to set up one individual. Last night was incredibly awesome.
The TSN dudes were talking about Berglund. According to them, Hitch said Berglund finally relaxed once the playoffs started and is just playing the game. During the regular season, which we have heard before, Berglund would get down, because he felt he was not performing up to expectations. Playoffs = a new season, so he just forgot about the regular season and is proving his worth big time, right now. He is hitting people, can't get moved from in front of the Sharks net when he is the presence in front, is back-checking very well. He is basically doing the things one would expect from a power forward.
The TSN guys also described the center matchups which are creating problems for the Sharks - Backes, Berglund and Arnott are all 6'3 or taller and all weigh 225 or more. Most teams don't have three big skilled centers that also hit. Thus, no matter what the Sharks do with their final change, the Blues are likely going to have someone big enough to deal with whichever line the Sharks ice. San Jose tried several times to put the Thornton line up against the Blues 4th line with Nichol at center, but that did not work out to well for them, so they switched to matching the Backes line again.
It's a shame the Blues can't get out of #25 the effort the rest of the team puts forth.