St. Louis Blues Opt for Drastic Change in Attempt to Rebound vs. San Jose Sharks

Sticking to the status quo hasn’t worked too well for the St. Louis Blues during this series, so they’ll opt for their most aggressive adjustment yet on Saturday evening.

Though things looked promising for the St. Louis Blues after Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, when they smothered the San Jose Sharks’ usually dominant offensive attack and failed to let in any cheap goals, they’ve been exactly the opposite for the subsequent two games of the series, as the Blues have been undisciplined and looked like a team that doesn’t deserve to be part of the NHL’s final four. They’ll look to reinvent themselves for Saturday’s Game 4, and they’ll take drastic measures to do so.

Goalie Jake Allen will get his first start of the postseason, replacing Brian Elliott, who has been the team’s rock through most of the past two-and-a-half months. They’ll hope that Allen, who provided fantastic play through much of November and December, can re-energize an offensive attack that has appeared stagnant through the entire series. Perhaps it’s wishful thinking to believe that the mere benching of a player who’s been a key figure throughout the Blues’ playoff run is going to inspire the rest of the players to score goals against a sturdy and disciplined Sharks defensive corps. At this point, though, it seems like coach Ken Hitchcock is flustered enough that he’s willing to try anything to give his team a jolt.

The Blues, usually one of the NHL’s most hard-nosed, gritty teams, had just 21 hits on Thursday, 20 less than a Sharks team that is generally known for its speed and skill more than its physicality. Considering that Hitchcock sat guys like Steve Ott and Ryan Reaves in order to play Magnus Paajarvi and Dmitrij Jaskin–who combined for just one hit on Thursday–it seemed that he tried to beat San Jose at their own game without much success.

The Blues have generally played well with their backs up against the wall this postseason, though it could be argued that their backs were firmly against the wall on Thursday, and they delivered one of their worst performances of the playoffs, if not the entire 2015-16 schedule. It will be intriguing to see if they can turn things around as the series truly hangs in the balance on Saturday.

Check out the next few pages to see what the Blues and Sharks’ lineups will look like for Game 4:

Next: Blues Lineup