The Bernstein Brief: Are Blues Playing Into Blackhawks' Hands?
By Dan Bernstein--
CBSChicago.com senior columnist
(CBS) Blues coach Ken Hitchcock has a strange idea for how to beat the Blackhawks. To hear him describe it, it sounds like his plan is to beat a puck-possession team by allowing them to have the puck more often.
I'm not making this up. He said it, telling reporters that he wants his team to register more hits. The Blues were credited with 41 in the first game, part of the reason the Hawks had both twice as many shots and nearly three times the quality scoring chances.
But in the world of Hitchcock -- one uninformed by such obvious and available data -- chasing the opponent around is more important than trying to score goals. To do the latter, you see, a team is better served having the small circular object that needs to go in the net.
The Blackhawks are routinely outhit by opponents, because they are too busy doing more important things that correlate to scoring goals and winning games.
Chicago coach Joel Quenneville appeared dumbfounded when hearing of his counterpart's plan, saying, "I'm not sure about that comment. I hope there's some validity to it. I hope he tries to go to 70 (hits). It means we have the puck the whole game."
In other words, "Thanks, dummy."
Dan Bernstein is a co-host of 670 The Score's "Boers and Bernstein Show" in afternoon drive. You can follow him on Twitter @dan_bernstein and read more of his columns here.
