Could be a feisty night in St. Louis for Hawks

Ken Hitchcock has a way with words.

And after his team suffered its second straight loss, this one a 4-1 thumping at the hands of visiting Vancouver and former teammate Ryan Miller on Thursday, the Blues coach wasn't sugarcoating any of them.

“We're in rough water,” Hitchcock said of his team, which fell to 2-3-1. “When you force offense, you play careless with the puck, when you have defensemen who want to play ahead of the forwards ... you end up with a recipe for disaster.”

In other words, Hitch isn't a happy camper.

And neither is St. Louis captain David Backes.

“We're under .500 now,” Backes said. “We're a team with high expectations who brought in some personnel, so we expect to be better than last year.

“Maybe we're focused too much on that skill element that we think we all of a sudden have. We're the Blues hockey team. We're going to play hard-nosed and then let the skill take over when we get those chances in the hard areas, getting our noses dirty.

“We haven't found that game yet and the result has been some unsatisfying performances.”

OK then, this has the makings of some kind of Saturday night showdown when the Blackhawks, fresh off a tough 3-2 loss to Nashville, head into a hornet's nest at Scottrade Center to take on the agitated Blues.

Let the rivalry continue.

“I would think St. Louis would be our top rivals at this point,” Patrick Sharp said. “I'm not sure if they would say the same, maybe they would. I think whenever you face a team in the playoffs, and with the way that series turned out last year.”

In that series, the Blues jumped out to a 2-0 lead after a pair of overtime victories, but the Hawks stormed back to win four straight, and for the second straight year, St. Louis found itself out of the playoffs after the first round.

“Even before that series they were probably our top rival,” Sharp said. “Two good teams in the same division. The fans are great. It's exciting to play in both buildings.”

But it should be especially raucous Saturday as the Blues and their fans seek a little revenge.

And that might include Backes himself, who was never the same in that series after taking a crushing blow from Brent Seabrook in Game 2, a blow that earned Seabrook a three-game suspension.

“It's going to be a hard game, every game against St. Louis is,” Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. “A division rival and our playoff history ... it'll be a big test for us.”

As it will for the Blues, who are in dire need of righting the ship.

“The alarm bell is going off,” Hitchcock warned.

Should be a special night for these two rivals.

“Knowing we're going to St. Louis for a big game on Saturday night,” Sharp said, “it's going to be a fun atmosphere.”