If you’re reading this, you are a hard-core Blues fan

It’s Saturday afternoon and it’s a nice day outside. You probably got a bunch a new gadgets from Christmas, but if you didn’t,  there’s got to be  some  work to do around the house. At the very least, you should be flipping on a college bowl game.

But no . . . you’re still peeved about last night’s Blues game, a 1-0 loss to San Jose. Well, I figured there were a few of you out there, so  I jumped  on my  laptop to give you a Blues’ fix.

The Blues didn’t have a morning skate today, in part, because the Dallas Mavericks were hosting the Atlanta Hawks in an afternoon NBA game at American Airlines Arena. But I’ve got  a few quotes leftover from last night, and I had brief talk with Andy Murray this morning about his message to the team.

Andy Murray from last night:

On the loss: “You play as hard as our team tonight, it’s very difficult to lose. We turned the puck over at their blue-line with three minutes to go in the hockey  game. Against this team, you need to make sure you get pucks behind them. It ended up coming back our direction and they scored. They’re a team that leads the league in terms of shots given up per game, yet we generated lots of shots in terms of chances. Had great chances on our power play. Our power play was as good as it’s ever been, yet we failed to score on it. It was an intense, physical, man’s game.”

On playing better against the Sharks than Detroit, but still losing in a shutout: “The end result wasn’t the same, which is not to our liking. I felt for our guys. Felt we played hard. Felt we played with good structure.  Played one of the best teams in the league and felt we battled them tooth and nail. Played a hard game. We were not good enough to get it down. I liked how our team stuck with them all night. We played everybody. D.J. King probably played more minutes than he’s played for a while. We had some solid performances, but obviously not enough to win.”

On the missed 5-on-3 opportunity (after blowing a 5-on-3 against Detroit Wednesday): “I think there’s a huge difference in the two of them. By our count, I think we had four really (good) scoring chances, and we didn’t finish. We did things right, but we didn’t finish. They’re the best penalty-killing team in the league right now. They do a good job of it . . . yet our first power play in the first period . . . I don’t know how many shots Brad Boyes had from the slot. Paul Kariya had two from the opposite side. We had some great point shots. Keith Tkachuk had some great chances on the 5-on-3 and the 5-on-4. Our power-play puck movement in the sense of carrying the game to them was good; we just not finish.”

On whether Martin Rucinsky could have pulled the trigger quicker on his shot in the crease: “I don’t know. You and I will never be in his shoes there, so it’s tough to say. We could say he could have pulled the trigger a little quicker, but . . . I’m sure he would have liked to have to. He didn’t score on it and he had two great chances.”

On facing Dallas: “Playing a great team in Dallas. We talked to our guys about that. We’re going to need the same kind of effort. You look at our schedule and they’re all going to be battles. This team tonight showed the way we’ve got to play.”

Jay McKee on the loss to San Jose: “You’ve got two teams out there that are smart defensive teams. Certainly two teams that commit themselves to good defensive hockey. I think you saw a lot of it there. I think were pretty proud of the way we limited them to only seven shots in the last couple of periods. Unfortunately, they were able to find the back of the net. We’ve just got to find a way to score. I know we fired a lot of shots and that was the game plan. That’s going to be the game plan again tomorrow. It’s a tough little stretch here, but we’ll certainly bounce out of it. We’re too good of a hockey club.”

Brad Boyes on  the team’s  scoring  drought: “We got chances, but we’ve got to bear down. This is the NHL. We’ve got to start scoring. I had probably four chances and didn’t score on any of them. It’s just a matter of not bearing down. We played a tight-defensive-style game and when we get chances, we’ve got to bury them.”

Boyes on Rucinsky’s miss on the doorstep: “The goalie (Evgeni Nabokov) made a good save on that one. Again, that’s another chance kind of blown. There were so many other chances we’ve got to score. The first power play . . . I had at least three good chances I didn’t score on.”

Boyes on the Blues not scoring on their  5-on-3  power play: “It goes back to the same stuff over and over again. We’re getting the chances and we’re not burying them . . .we’re not scoring. It’s as simple as that.”

Did you know? The Blues had six shutout victories in 54 games under Andy Murray last season. They weren’t shutout once after  Murray took over Dec. 12. This season, they’ve already been blanked six times in 36 games.

The Blues haven’t scored since Keith Tkachuk’s goal in the third period against Atlanta, or in the last 134 minutes, 30 seconds. Friday’s loss marked the first time since 1997 the Blues have been shutout in back-to-back home games.

Tonight, the Blues will face the Stars, who have scored 15 goals in their last three games, including an 8-3 win over Minnesota on Dec. 26. They’ve also won seven of their last eight games.

Here’s what Murray said this morning to the players:

“Third game in four nights . . . do we have enough energy to win?” Murray said. “I went through the room and most of the guys I talked to said they did. We talked about the fact that we played hard last night. We outchanced them 17-9. Had ourself in position to get points last night . . . failed to get it done because we didn’t finish. That’s the bottom line. We need the same team game tonight because they’re playing extremely well. We need to be ready to win.”

The Blues are on the road for two games (Dallas, Detroit), after going 1-4-2 at home recently.

“Really, you take a look at the homestand . . . we didn’t get the points we wanted, but we played pretty well in a lot of those games,” Murray said. “That’s the kind of team we are. We hope to get better.”

Other than a goalie change, the Blues will have the same lineup tonight, which means no Andy McDonald and no Bryce Salvador.

Hannu Toivonen will  be in net.

JR