With NBC Sports carrying the game tonight, announcer Mike Emrick asked Hitchcock about the Blues' lack of attention in the hockey world, given the team could tie for the overall points lead in the NHL with a win tonight.
“I think a lot of it is because of Detroit and Chicago, they're still so good,” Hitchcock said. “You're going to stay off the radar until you get into the playoffs and have some semblance of success in the playoffs...
“I think everybody expects at some period in time, we'll drop out, Nashville will drop out, and it will be the same two horses in the race.”
Hitchcock added, the Blues still face a difficult portion of schedule that will be test their credability.
“First of all, we have to prove we can go the distance and get in the playoffs,” he added. “We're sitting here at home (now) while everybody else is traveling. Well guess what, when you look at our end-of-February and March, it's not pretty. So I think there's a big question mark on us.”
***
The Blues' lineup will be unchanged when they play the Dallas Stars at 6:30 p.m. at Scottrade Center. None of the walking wounded are ready to return, including Alex Steen and Kris Russell.
Steen indicated he's close after the morning skate, and Blues coach Ken Hitchcock liked what he saw during the session. But he wants Steen to get in some more work.
“He had a very good today,” Hitchcock said. “Well practice him hard on Tuesday and Wednesday and see how he is for Thursday.
"He hasn't had a team practice yet, all he's done is isolation practices. He'll get team practices in the next two days. ... He looks very good, so we'll work him up and hopefully get him ready for Thursday.”
Hitchcock indicated defenseman Russell essentially is in the same boat, and he could be ready for Thursday's game with the Edmonton Oilers. To sum it up for tonight, Hitchcock added, “It's the same lineup, same goalie (Jaroslav Halak) and hopefully same result.”
The result on Saturday was an overtime-shootout win over Minnesota.
***
Blues forward B. J. Crombeen has played in nine games since returning from a shoulder injury and is looking forward to cracking the scoring sheet. The winger said there has been no ill-effects from the injury, but there was an orientation process. After all, he was injured before the Blues made a coaching change.
“I feel good,” Crombeen said. “I feel like the first couple of games back, I was still going through a few things and trying to learn a new system... things like. But I feel good now, feel like I'm in good shape and have my timing back.
“The way I explain it is, when you're learning something new, you tend to think before you react. And when you're thinking and playing it's not good, because you're not playing off your instinct. I think that was one of the big adjustments.”
