Blues At Blackhawks Game Recap: Blues Lose Eighth In A Row In Chicago

Pardon me for keeping it short today -- it has nothing to do with the fact that the Blues lost and everything to do with the fact that I'm sick and need to sleep this malaria off. What is there to say? The Blues had moments of dominance and had some outstanding scoring chances -- lots of empty nets -- and couldn't convert. When you have the chance and you don't make good on it, you can't be surprised when the game ends the way this one did.

You can make lots of excuses for this game, you can say how close they wound up getting but you shouldn't. They were tired, they were outworked when it mattered, and the Blues are just going to have to suck it up, deal with it, and move on. This schedule's hard. This was just the first of 10 back-to-back games; if this is how the team plays in the second of those games, they're toast.

You also can't play whenever you feel like it. Sitting back for the first three quarters of the first period didn't help, and neither did taking a few shifts off in the second. Sure, the Blues controlled the play for long stretches, but didn't convert -- who cares if you control the play if you can't get it done? Control the play, convert, play with a clear head and stop scrambling when you are in charge of the puck. That's all you have to do.

It's the start of the season. Put this game behind you, but learn some lessons going forward to Thursday night. They have to deal with the Predators again then, and that game is about as far away from a gimmie as you can get.