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Columnist: If Blues lose to Wild, there should be ‘consequences’

Ken Hitchcock

Ken Hitchcock

AP

Always interesting to take the temperature of various media markets during the playoffs.

In St. Louis, the heat is definitely getting turned up on the Blues.

From Jeff Gordon of the Post-Dispatch:

Let’s get right to the point: If the Blues fall behind three games to one to the Minnesota Wild, winning this playoff series will be very difficult for them.

And if they don’t win this series, major changes could occur in the Blues’ organization. ... [Coach Ken] Hitchcock must find solutions or face the consequences. Core players on this roster must elevate their play or face the consequences.

The Blues have been unlucky in the sense that they’ve drawn some very good first-round opponents the last three seasons, including this one.

At the same time, you have to beat good teams to win the Stanley Cup. And remember, it was Hitchcock himself who said a year ago, “The playoffs tell you everything as a coach. They tell you everything about yourself, they tell you everything about your players, they tell you everything about how close you are … what you need to do better, what you’ve done well … they tell you everything.”

The obvious follow-up to that is, if the playoffs “tell you everything,” what are they telling everyone about the Blues?

Last word to Gordon:

So Game 4 will be one of those statement games, telling the world who the Blues are or are not. Either they’ll take a big step in the right direction or they’ll take a very dangerous step toward another playoff failure.

Related: Wild made the Blues ‘crack’ with their checking