The St. Louis Blues find themselves in a 2-1 series hole against the Nashville Predators and are trying to figure out what’s behind their troubles. The Blues have a lot of areas to work on, ranging from faceoffs to generating more scoring opportunities, but apparently they’re improving in the “hate” department.
Blues head coach Mike Yeo says that one of his fears entering the second round against Nashville was that his team didn’t have enough anger towards the Predators. Now, that’s no longer the case.
Yeo: Coming into this series, one of my concerns was we really didn't hate this team. I think we've gotten to the point we're over that now.
— Lou Korac (@lkorac10) May 1, 2017
All in all, that’s a pretty silly comment. The Blues haven’t played with the right kind of tenacity against the Predators and that has resulted in them being pushed around and spending a good amount of time in the penalty box. Overall, the better team is the one leading the series through the first three games.
Still, how can you enter a playoff series without the mentality of crushing an opponent? “Hate” may not be the best word for it, but the Blues should have had no issue getting up for their next opponent, regardless of whether or not there’s much history between the two teams.
Maybe the Blues can look to Mike Milbury for some tips on how to hate on the Predators?