Tuesday, Oct. 06, 2009

Resilient Blues off to solid start to season

St. Louis opens at home Thursday

ST. LOUIS -- Being down by two goals against the Detroit Red Wings usually meant one thing for the St. Louis Blues -- another defeat.

But as they showed in Sweden with a pair of season-opening come-from-behind victories over the Wings, these are not the old Blues.

This is a new and improved version that could be ready to draw itself a much larger dot on the NHL map.

"That would have been different last year or a couple years ago, where we probably would have lost 5-0," said Blues center Keith Tkachuk, off to a quick start with two goals and four points. "But we're a resilient bunch, we've got a lot of young, fresh legs.

"I look at the big picture: Sweden's a beautiful country and we got two big wins. But getting over there and bonding, doing things as a team, focusing on that type of environment was really healthy for our team."

Coach Andy Murray skated the Blues through a pretty tough practice Monday, trying to get their legs and minds back into shape and focus after the eight-day trip to Sweden.

The team will be off today before returning to work Wednesday ahead of Thursday's home opener against Atlanta.

It's tough to place too much importance on games this early in the season, but as Blues center David Backes said, "It definitely beats the alternative of coming home 0-2."

Backes hinted that the Blues seem to do their best when backed into a corner. How else did they go from last place in the Western Conference last season to finish with the No. 6 seed in the playoffs, or go 9-1-1 in their final 11 games?

"We were playing a great hockey team over there and the fans were probably 4 to 1 Red Wings fans to Blue fans," Backes said. "But we like that. We like the underdog side of things where people are counting us out, taking us a little bit lightly and not giving us a whole lot of credit.''

Blues goalie Ty Conklin spent last season with the Red Wings, so he's seen the other side of the rivalry. The Blues fought back from 2-0 and 3-1 deficits to win both games.

"They're a good team, they've been as good as anybody the last four, five or six years," he said. "Those games could have gotten out of hand pretty quick if we hadn't righted the ship when we did. You let them get up three or four goals and it's game over."

Blues President John Davidson said he senses a young, hungry team with enough talented veterans to show the way.

"We don't have that one giant superstar that's going to carry our club," he said. "We've got a very good group of players of all ages that have to help out."

Among the best examples is what coach Andy Murray call his "gray" line, the "stopper" line of Andy McClement, Brad Winchester and B.J. Crombeen.

Expected to check the opposing team's top line and provide strong defense, the unit also produced goals by McClement and Crombeen. McClement is tied for the team scoring lead with a goal and three assists.

There is no first, second, third or fourth lines with Murray. He uses red, blue, gold and gray and said he hates the connotation provided by placing a number by a line grouping.

"Why do you stereotype? It's whoever's playing the best," he said. "We can have four first lines and some nights you feel like you've got four fifth lines.

"Our gray line was good all the way through camp and I thought they were real good in both games over there."

McClement had 12 goals and 26 points last season. He also led all NHL players in penalty-killing time and excels at forechecking and exploiting turnovers.

"Every line has a job description," McClement said. "We know who our top units are, our top scoring units. That's what their job description is and our line is a little bit different.

"I enjoy it. This year, every one of our lines has the ability to contribute offensively, so that's a good mix to have."

Among the McClement's lines duties was chasing Red Wings superstar Pavel Datsyuk and his linemates.

"He did burn us a couple times and that's something we need to correct," McClement said. "I think we got away with a few where the goaltenders bailed us out, that's for sure."