The Blues outhit the Sharks 28-14, but one can expect those numbers to be increased in Game 2 and throughout the series. St. Louis must improve in the faceoff dot, where San Jose won 40 of 70 draws (57 percent).
"I don't think our players played in a harder game than there was [Sunday] from a compete on the puck side of things," Hitchcock said. "That was the hardest game we've played in ... we haven't played in a game like that. We played against Chicago, we played against Dallas. There was a lot of flow, there was a lot of speed in the game, there was a lot of quickness in the game. [Sunday], there was a lot of board play, a ton of board play, a ton of battles. I found watching our players, it was exhausting. If that's what the games are going to be like, these are going to be physically demanding."
However, the Blues know they can do better, which gives them comfort after winning a game without their best effort.
"I think just the fact that we won it, we got a whole lot more to give, I think that's a big positive thing that we can bring on," Blues defenseman Carl Gunnarsson said. "Everyone knows this was kind of like a heavyweight fight, Round 1, just jabbing a little bit. Now we know how they play. We'll make some adjustments and off we go. But we got that positive feeling. We got a whole lot more to give and we're up 1-0."