The view from St. Louis

News coming out of St. Louis on Monday night wasn’t particularly cheery as the Blues dropped their fifth game in a row and captured just one point from a four-game homestand. The team that was two points away from the President’s Trophy a season ago and opened the 2012-13 season with a 6-0 win over Detroit has fallen from 6-1-0 to 6-5-1 in the matter of 12 days.

St. Louis Post Dispatch

Slump continues as Kings dominate Blues (+ Hitchcock video)
-Warning: contains Buffalo Springfield lyrics.

Halak suffers setback warming up, can’t play after all
-Kings assistant coach Davis Payne was quoted on his return to St. Louis, saying, “It’s a little bit strange. It’s kind of like going back to a high-school reunion. You think it’s familiar territory. But you find things have changed and life has kind of moved on.”

Hockey Guy: So much for Halak’s heroic return
-The photo of Brian Elliott that accompanies this article does an accurate job of summing up the past week for St. Louis.

Belleville News-Democrat

Blues’ ‘homestand from hell’ ends with another loss
-This article features the interesting David Backes quote that has been making its rounds: “We’ve got too many guys that are out there looking at the stat sheet wondering how many goals and assists and cookies they got, rather than taking a hit to make a play or getting run over so we can get a puck out,” Backes said. “We took our foot off the gas and it’s no one’s fault but our own.”

Elliott a surprise starter in goal after Halak aggravates injury
-The article also focuses on Ian Cole’s return against Anaheim on Saturday.

St. Louis Game Time

Kings At Blues Recap: Blues Drop Fifth In A Row 4-1 To Kings
-The Blues’ SB Nation blog condenses many of the above themes into one game recap.

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