ST. LOUIS — Ken Hitchcock’s debut as St. Louis Blues coach was a huge successeven if he had quibbles with his first game behind the bench in nearly two years.
“I think far and away the weakest player was me,” the 59-year-old Hitchcock said after the Blues beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-0 on Tuesday night. “I’m going to have to get a little bit further up to speed because it was a playoff atmosphere with a playoff-style game.”
Jaroslav Halak shrugged off his shaky start to the season, making 29 saves, and Chris Stewart scored on the power play to end a 10-game goal drought. Vladimir Sobotka and T.J. Oshie also scored, and Barret Jackman had two assists for the Blues, whose 6-7 start cost coach Davis Payne his job.
“Guys were buying in all over the ice, making plays,” said captain David Backes, who was plus-2. “Jaro was outstanding; he bailed us out when we needed it at critical times in the game.”
Sobotka drove to the net and wedged the puck past Corey Crawford midway through the first period for his first goal since March 30.
Stewart’s deflection in the second period was the fourth goal in 41 power-play opportunities for St. Louis, which entered as the NHL’s worst team with the man advantage.
At his introductory news conference Monday morning, Hitchcock said it would take only one practice to fix the power play.
“To be able to grasp a couple of the concepts this quick on the power play is a real good sign,” Hitchcock said. “And our penalty kill battled like crazy.”
Crawford made 20 saves for Central Division-leading Chicago, which has lost three in a row.
