FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- When the Blues took the ice on Sunday morning in sun-splashed Fort Lauderdale, they did something they hadn't done in close to two weeks.
They practiced.
Due to a road-heavy schedule and a pair of back-to-backs, the Blues had not practiced since Dec. 9 in Edmonton, as coach Jim Montgomery chose to populate the St. Louis schedule with off-days instead of sessions on the ice. On Sunday, the Blues were on the ice for abouts 45 minutes, with the last 10 of those dedicated to skating laps.
"Practice was intentionally hard," Montgomery said. "So you go hard for 37 minutes, and then you want to do something at 85% to try and help the lactic acid get out of their legs, and now we're jumping on a plane."
What's the balance for Montgomery when it comes to gathering rest for his team and working on the details of their game?
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"No. 1, what's the optimal practice, rest, recovery ratio so that they can be best at games?" Montgomery said. "As coaches, you would love to practice a lot more. Something I learned in Dallas, I thought I was practicing too much, to the detriment of the players being able to perform in games. You multiply the fatigue and then you want your players to play well.
"When teams look slow, it's either because coaches are practicing them too much, or it's the schedule. It's one of those two, usually."
Between the practice in Edmonton and the one in Fort Lauderdale, the Blues played seven games in 11 days in five cities and three time zones. They went 2-3-2 in those games, including Friday's 2-1 overtime loss to the Panthers.
Montgomery said the Blues practice was designed "to make sure that we built off last game as far as how good we were in our intensity and our execution in all three zones."
"I thought our players went out there and they competed," Montgomery said. "When I see a 2 on 2 drill and (Zack Bolduc) chips it in behind (Colton) Paryako, Parayko stands him up with a good gap, that's just good hockey on both guys. And then they fight to win the footrace to the goalline. It's something that needs to become part of our standard."
In the big picture, the loss to the Panthers was the team's third in a row, and fifth in the last six games. It was the fourth time in the last five games that the Blues scored just one goal. But on a more detailed level, Montgomery was encouraged by the game in Sunrise.
Montgomery said the Blues' in-house tracking had them with a 7-2 advantage in Grade-A chances ("You usually win those games," he said.), and an 8-5 edge in odd-man rushes while the Panthers had more offensive zone possession time.
That's an area where we've got to continue to get better, and we've got to get better offensively at being in harder areas, but we did a pretty good job of that last game," Montgomery said. "That team is all or nothing about the o-zone. They routinely lead the league, them and Carolina because they play similar. They don't give you any easy outs. Because of that, if you play well, you get odd-man rushes. That's the way you have to beat them with your odd-man rushes."
The Blues certainly had their chances on the rush, with a 3 on 1 in the first period that fizzled with a wayward pass, a 2 on 1 in the first period that ended in a Jake Neighbours shot on goal, and a near 2 on 1 in the third period where Neighbours' pass was deflected.
St. Louis nearly ended the game twice in overtime as Dylan Holloway was thwarted by a Sergei Bobrovsky poke check once, then denied when he drove the net from the corner of the offensive zone.
Since Montgomery took over as Blues coach four weeks ago, the team has heled just six full practices. Asked what parts of the team game slips when practice time is limited, Montgomery said the details and habits like stopping in the defensive zone, good sticks on the forecheck and in the defensive zone, driving the net consistently, and having the F3 (high forward in the offensive zone) being positionally sound.
The Blues likely will only practice twice more before the Winter Classic on Dec. 31 in Chicago, and one of those will be outdoors at Wrigley Field the day before. St. Louis plays its final game before Christmas on Monday in Detroit, then will have three days off for the holiday before hosting the Predators on Dec. 27 and the Sabres on Dec. 29.
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