Hitchcock expects `shock’ in series

It seems to have been decided, even before the first drop of the puck: this will be a low-scoring series. That’s certainly a reasonable assumption, given that in the regular season, the St. Louis Blues and the Kings were the two most stingy teams in the NHL in terms of goals against. Then again, last night’s game between Nashville and Phoenix featured two top goalies, and it ended with the Coyotes winning 4-3 in overtime. After today’s morning skate, Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said he doesn’t expect a high-scoring series. There might be a little gamesmanship in Hitchcock’s statements. Certainly, he won’t be coaching his players to expect high-scoring games, but nonetheless, Hitchcock made some interesting points…

HITCHCOCK: “I think this series is going to shock and surprise people. I don’t think you can keep that standard up: one goal, one goal, one goal. I don’t think you can keep that up. I think when emotion gets as high as it does, just like it did last night, I think the legs get a little bit rubbery, I think you see the players more on the move, like you did last night. And I think you’re going to see more scoring chances because of it. I think, when you’ve got young teams and it’s very emotional and very intense, it’s hard to get players to focus and stop on pucks like you can in a regular-season game. So I think you’re going to see more errors. I think you’re going to see more mistakes. I think you’re going to see more scoring chances because of it, and I think you’re going to see more games like the one was last night, where there was a ton of scoring chances. I think you’re going to see that happen here.’’

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