It's a cliché that's heard all too often in hockey.

"We're getting chances, but we're just not finishing."

Eleven games into the season, few could have imagined this is what the Blues would be saying. But after finishing eighth in the NHL on the power play last season, the club ranks 26th going into tonight's home game against Florida.

The Blues are generating chances on the power play. The puck was flying at Phoenix goalie Ilya Bryzgalov on Thursday night. But at the end of the game, the Blues were 0 for three with the man-advantage, and it cost them in a 2-0 loss.

"We had five (quality) power-play chances, and you'd like to think that out of five good chances, you'd get one goal," Blues coach Andy Murray said. "Then you're one of three on the power play and we're leading the hockey game and maybe it's a different story."

The power play wasn't expected to be an issue for the Blues this season. In fact, with the return of Paul Kariya and Erik Johnson from injuries, there were hopes of improving on the standard they set last season.

But if that's to be the case, the Blues have much work to do after scoring on only six of their 41 power-play opportunities (14.6 percent) so far. Only Ottawa and Nashville, with five power-play goals, have fewer than the Blues this season.

The team will carry an 0-for-20 drought into tonight's game and will be looking for its first power-play goal on home ice this season. Their six power-play goals were scored either in Sweden (four) or Anaheim (two).

"I go to my suggestion box every day and check my e-mails and letters ... people have got lots of ideas for us," Murray said.

Those comments sound a lot like the ones from 2006-07 and 2007-08, when the Blues ranked 29th and 30th in the NHL on the power play.

After that, Murray assumed the coaching duties on the power play, and the Blues adjusted their system to fit the players they had in place.

Brad Boyes became the one-time shot specialist. David Backes joined Keith Tkachuk as a big body the Blues could plunk in front of the net. Andy McDonald and Kariya were looked at as playmakers. And Johnson was drafted, giving the unit a heavy shot from the point.

But after their success last season without Kariya and Johnson, the Blues have taken a step back.

"It's just our execution," Murray said. "It's the finish ... it's not getting rid of the puck quick enough, not shooting it fast enough. It's all us."

Boyes leads the Blues with 35 shots, but he has just two goals and none on the power play. Last season, Boyes led the team with 33 goals, including 16 on the power play.

This season, Boyes hasn't been able to get off his one-timer with any accuracy.

"In Carolina, the puck came to him on that side and he had a wide-open net and missed the net," Murray said. "He went out (Thursday morning) and just worked on one-time shots."

There are other reasons, however, why the power play isn't clicking.

The Blues are in search of more traffic in front of the net and getting more point shots through to the goalie.

"We have two guys that are good shooters from the top, and they need to shoot it," Murray said. "We've got two guys from the side who can make plays or shoot it and they need to execute. We're putting a big body in front of the net in Backes and Tkachuk. They need to screen every time.

"They're working at it ... we've just got to keep working at it."

The Blues are also working to improve their draws. On Thursday, they let a key face-off slip out of the zone, erasing a 26-second, five-on-three advantage.

"We need to win face-offs so we're not chasing pucks," Murray said. "Our retrievals can be better, too. We've got to get to loose pucks, so we can get a second and third chance."

Murray concluded, though, that paying too much attention to one aspect of the power play could be harmful.

"The worst thing is to overanalyze it and give it 50 different reasons ... to me, it's everything," he said. "Let's keep it simple, get pucks to the net, let's move it, let's have good entry speed.

"Everybody is free to express their opinion, but the bottom line is you put five good players on the ice and you need five good players to execute."