The view from St. Louis

The St. Louis Blues got their first win of the 2011 calendar year, after an 0-4-1 start, and here’s how last night’s Kings-Blues game was covered in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch last night, followed by some additional quotes from the Blues’ locker room…

Blues beat LA, end 5-game slump

Defensive foundation is crucial for the Blues

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COACH DAVIS PAYNE
(on the game…) “Team commitment to structure and to the defensive side of things. Any time you come off a game where you’ve given up seven, you need to hit the reset button and commit to the right areas. I thought all five guys had the right conscience and communicating our assignments well and got some big saves out of our goaltender [Jaroslav Halak] in the third. … We’ve talked about what our formula looks like. If we get ourselves away from that, it’s a bigger challenge to win a hockey game then we need to make it. We got ourselves back on track tonight.”

RYAN REAVES
(on the game…) “There was urgency from both teams. We dropped five in a row, too, so both teams were a little on edge and pretty anxious to get the ball rolling the other way. It was good for our team and we just have to keep going.”

(on being recently called up…) “I was nervous a little bit the first time. I’m settling in a little bit, trying to get to know the guys. I played with (Philip) McRae the past two weeks. I kind of know his tendencies, so I’m a little more comfortable right now.”