David Backes, Ken Hitchcock Reflect On Blues' Series Loss

The post-series loss locker room is probably the saddest place in sports. It's doubly sad when it's the championship round - but this wasn't. This was, however, as close to the championship round as the Blues have gotten in 15 years. Spirits were decidedly not high. You know - just as the team knows - that this is the last time that these guys are going to be together in the room. The offseason brings change. Perhaps one of those changes is a new captain, as David Backes is set to test free agent waters. This may have been his last game as a Blue, and his emotionally charged press scrum shows that it isn't how he wants things to end.

"We just come up short." This postseason, that phrase doesn't apply to David Backes at all.

Here's Ken Hitchcock's press conference. This may be his last post-game presser as coach of the Blues, though after getting the team this far I'm sure that the option to return will be on the table for him.

"We had individuals that were struggling." Hitch is spot on that the Blues' inability to close out the first two series led to some struggles in this one for the high-minute guys. You could see the sharpness and mental acuity of some of the Blues' top players slipping as the series continued, be it from fatigue or injury or whatever.

The list of problems will come out soon, but for now, this is all we get.

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