Hitchcock wants Blues to send a message for playoffs
/Blues coach Ken Hitchcock, via The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, on his team's five-game home stand beginning Thursday night against the Minnesota Wild:
"We have one eye on the standings, up and down," he said. "We know the teams coming in today, coming in Saturday, next week, those are potential playoff opponents. We want to play well against those guys. Most important for the players, this is five games in a row at home. We've earned the right to come home. We've had a really tough schedule since the Olympic break. We'll have a few quality hockey practices and some great competition and I want us to take advantage. We've earned the right to have a great finish to the schedule with all these home games. We want to take advantage by playing really, really well.
"It's also about sending a message. Whoever comes in, especially from the West, we want to send a message that they're back playing in a tough building. All we've done here is play one and go back out, that's what it feels like. Now we're at home and I want us to get energized and send a message to teams coming in that this is not going to be fun."