Blues must bring "a game that is indicative of playing winning hockey" on three-game trip

ST. LOUIS -- You hear it from teams all the time: a full 60 minutes, forecheck, puck management, puck placement, working in five-man units.

Those are some of the things successful and consistent teams speak of when discussing the keys to success.

They've been such up-and-down elements to the St. Louis Blues' game this season, their record (22-20-2) is reflective of their play.

But Saturday's 3-0 win against the Washington Capitals was a full display of many of those winning elements necessary to success.

It's a hard way to play, but as the Blues embark on a three-game Pacific Division trip to Calgary on Tuesday, Vancouver on Wednesday and Seattle on Friday, they have to ask themselves how can they bottle up the kind of game they played Saturday?

"It's winning hockey though," captain Brayden Schenn said. "It's not every night, it's not going to be perfect, but if you do the right things with the puck and effort level, more times than not, you're going to get the results you want. The thing is we know we have it in this locker room. We've played against good teams and hung in there with them, beat good teams since Christmas. When we play the right way, we know we can play with anyone."

This is true, as exhibited since Christmas with wins over Dallas, Vancouver, Carolina, New York Rangers and now Washington. But the consistency, as outlined throughout the season and as evidenced by the record, hasn't always been the case.

"It's just the consistency of doing that. It starts with our effort, number one," Blues interim coach Drew Bannister said. "A lot of those things are controllable. There's things that we control as individuals. Our effort in our game, our consistency in our game. But it has to start with effort. You have to come to work, you have to put in an honest effort every day, every shift, every period, every game, and I thought our guys as a whole did that [Saturday]."

The Blues limited the Capitals, who beat the Blues 5-2 last Thursday in the front end of the home-and-home set, to 18 shots, which is a season-best for them and just executed all facets of what they can do best.

Ask goalie Jordan Binnington, who registered his second shutout this season and 14th of his career.

"I think the forecheck started with the first shift of the game," Binnington said. "First period was strong and we kind of just wore then down over time. It's simple and effective and predictable. It makes us all kind of be on the same page. It was really good to see."

When the Blues, who scored shorthanded (Colton Parayko) in the first period, 6-on-5 with a delayed penalty in the second period (Schenn) and power-play goal in the third period (Jake Neighbours), have had issues, it's been with one-and-dones in the offensive zone, meaning they get pucks in and don't forecheck effectively, giving the opposition easier transition opportunities, or they just don't put pucks in effective areas.

The Capitals did not benefit from such shoddy play on Saturday.

"We managed the puck a lot better, so we gave ourselves opportunities to get to a forecheck," Bannister said. "I thought our puck placement gave us the opportunity to take better routes to stall pucks earlier. Overall I thought it was much better than it has been in previous games.

"It starts with playing direct and being predictable and then puck placement and then being able to get to those pucks and outnumber quickly and I thought we did that more consistently tonight. The guys as a whole were consistent in playing a direct game, especially I thought in the first period. We had a great start. They played a game that is indicative of playing winning hockey."

Now about that winning hockey, it will have to be on hand for games against opponents the Blues will be fighting for wild card positions, and the Canucks, who are one of the top teams in the league this season.

It was another example of a blueprint.

"I think it's just more of a willingness and also it's puck play too," Schenn said. "It's putting the puck in the corner where it's tough for the D to get and not to the goalie and not setting up the breakout. You need F1 and F2 to try and stall it and try and get some offense like that. I think we did a pretty good job of that, especially in the second period. But on top of that, I think in the third period, they came at us, but we really didn't give them a whole lot. Guys were back-checking through the middle of the ice, D were closing plays and it's nice to see 'Binner' get a shutout.

"You have to forecheck in five-man groups. It's just not one or two guys that get the job done. The D have to be up with the forwards and it takes everyone to stop the play. Guys are too good in this league and they're going to make plays if guys don't arrive on time. I thought we did a better job of that [Saturday]. We've still got some work to do here but a step in the right direction."