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Mike Babcock addressed the media after his team gave up a 1-0 lead late and lost in overtime to the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday night.


On the result:

Obviously, we got a point. We played a real good team. I thought it was a real good hockey game. They were too quick for us in the first. I thought we played better as the game went on.

I was disappointed with the 5-on-6 [goal against]. We had the right people on the ice in the right scenario. We ended up getting outnumbered at our net. That shouldn’t happen. We know how to do it better than that, so that’s a key area.

Then, in OT, we can’t be on the wrong side of the puck. You just can’t. What you learn with good teams is that you don’t cheat, ever. You just keep doing things good and you stay patient and you get your opportunities. If you cheat for offense, you lose.

On what happened on the late tying goal for the Blues:

One of our forwards came across instead of just holding onto their side. In the end, they ended up having an out-numbered situation on that side. All you have to do is be patient and hold and stay underneath. We don’t want to get out-numbered at our net. There is no sense in doing that. Just settle down and play. We’ve done it lots and done it well, so the guys know how to do it. You’ve got to execute. That’s the bottom line.

On whether he’s anticipating a lot these kinds of grinding games down the stretch:

I just think St. Louis, in general, have a big, good D. They’ve got good depth. They’ve got some players still injured, but they’ve still got good depth. They come at you hard. They’ve got a good hockey club. I didn’t think there was a ton of room tonight. I thought they backchecked real well. I didn’t think we shot the puck enough, but I liked the game. I thought both teams played hard and I thought it was a high-level game — probably the highest level game we’ve been in in a while.

On Connor Brown’s shorthanded goal:

I just think it was a great play by him. He’s playing on our fourth line. Probably not getting the opportunity he deserves. He’s a real good player. Plays on our power play, plays on our penalty kill, plays a regular shift. When we were ahead at the end, he’s out on the ice. He made a real good play. He works every day and he’s an important guy on our team.

On the level of concern about the pattern of close losses lately:

I thought the game against Ottawa was one-sided, let’s be honest. I thought the game before we kind of stole one from Vancouver and Columbus did the same to us. To me, this was a pretty high-level game. You want to win this. You want to walk out of here feeling good. You’ve got more energy at practice tomorrow. But you didn’t.

It’s simple. Life is about lessons. Suck it up and find a way to win games. You come to the rink, you need two points. You don’t need one. You need two. That’s what makes you feel good, so find ways to win.

On the Blues racking up 42 shots on Frederik Andersen:

I think it’s too many against, but also, I thought… I haven’t seen the chances on video, but I saw the chances through two and I liked what we did. I thought, at the start, they were too quick for us. I didn’t think after that they were. I thought we got settled in and got playing. They were good and I didn’t think we got in on their D at all in the first period. We actually had three heavy shifts, period, in the first period, and we did way better after that. That’s just us not used to a D, probably, as good as that.

On William Nylander’s breakaway in OT:

You want him to win it. If you look at these games, we’ve had a breakaway in each one of these games and found a way to lose. That’s the way it goes, but we shouldn’t have given up the 2-on-1, and we made a mistake. Any way you look at it, we made two mistakes there at the end and it cost us two goals.