Lack of Discipline Makes Blues’ Task Much Harder

The St. Louis Blues showed precisely why they cannot yet be put in the same class as NHL powers such as the Stanley Cup champion New Jersey Devils, Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars or Detroit Red Wings.

The Blues simply let their tempers get the best of them far too often to be considered legitimate contenders. It happened again Wednesday against the overmatched Mighty Ducks, in a game St. Louis should have won easily but struggled to win, 4-2, before 14,600 at the Arrowhead Pond.

If the Ducks, playing without injured forwards Paul Kariya, Mike Leclerc and Steve Rucchin, can get under the Blues’ skins, imagine what seasoned playoff teams will do to them in the postseason.

It doesn’t matter how many regular-season victories the Central Division-leading Blues bag, they won’t win a Cup until they learn to control their emotions and smooth out the many rough edges to their game.

“I thought we got a little undisciplined and took some unnecessary penalties,” St. Louis Coach Joel Quenneville said. “I thought our penalty killers did a great job of getting us out of it. We certainly got a little carried away. A little bit was frustration. But we’ve got to have better composure.”

Instead of routing the Ducks, the undisciplined Blues seemed more intent on hooking, slashing, charging and fighting them. The Ducks scored twice on the power play and gained momentum each time the Blues took a foolish penalty. St. Louis dominated the game when the teams skated at even strength.

In the end, third-period goals by Bryce Salvador and Tyson Nash (short-handed) enabled the Blues to steal away from the Pond with their league-leading 28th victory. But it didn’t come without a price and another example of their lack of control.

Pierre Turgeon, who scored the go-ahead goal for the Blues in the second period, was knocked senseless when he tried to fight Tony Hrkac of the Ducks behind the St. Louis net 1:58 into the final period. Turgeon, who went into the game with only 14 penalty minutes, tagged Hrkac with a left, but hit the ice when Hrkac delivered a straight right.

Turgeon did not return to the game, but Quenneville said he was fine.

“He elbowed me twice,” Hrkac said. “I saw him throw a punch so . . .”

Hrkac said it was his first fighting major.

The Blues accomplished very little with their 30 shots on Guy Hebert in the first two periods, and it was their own fault.

Instead of taking command and putting away the outclassed Ducks, the Blues marched off to the penalty box as if there were treats hidden in there. Killing off penalty after penalty in the first 40 minutes served to kill off the momentum the Blues built while skating five on five.

Niclas Havelid’s power-play goal 9:37 into the first period gave the Ducks a 1-0 lead against St. Louis and backup goalie Brent Johnson. The goal came while the Ducks held a man advantage, but it might just as well have been a two-man advantage because Reed Low was just exiting the penalty box when Havelid accepted a cross-ice pass from Petr Tenkrat and put a one-timer past Johnson.

The lead didn’t last three minutes. St. Louis defenseman Al MacInnis sent a wicked blast between Hebert’s legs for a 1-1 tie at 12:34.

Turgeon put the Blues ahead, 2-1, with a power-play goal midway through the second period. St. Louis had a 24-6 edge on shots, but instead of turning up the pressure on the Ducks, the Blues went haywire the rest of the period.

MacInnis and Chris Pronger were just as guilty as lesser lights such as Todd Reirden, who tackled Teemu Selanne only 33 seconds after Turgeon’s go-ahead goal. Selanne had a third-period power-play goal, his fourth goal in the last three games.