Blues staying calm, focused for Game 6 of Stanley Cup Final

ST. LOUIS --Alex Pietrangelo needed no reminder about the enormity of the situation.

"We know what Sunday is," the St. Louis Blues defenseman said Friday. "But the group's calm and we've done a really good job of refocusing after games. I don't really get a feel from anybody that the emotions are too high right now."
The Blues have a chance to win the Stanley Cup for the first time since entering the NHL in 1967 when they host the Boston Bruins in Game 6 of the Cup Final at Enterprise Center on Sunday (8 p.m. ET, NBC, CBC, TVAS, SN). St. Louis leads the best-of-7 series 3-2 after a 2-1 win in Boston on Thursday.
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Enterprise Center promises to be a boisterous scene, but forward Alexander Steen said players maintain their focus by sticking to routines.
"I think you just try and do things that relax you," Steen said. "As you move along [in a series] you learn more and more. And you know you rely a lot on your routines and what we do inside the locker room before games to kind of keep your focus on what you want to accomplish out there."
The Blues want to avoid letting emotions get the best of them as they did in Game 3, the first Stanley Cup Final game they hosted since May 5, 1970. The Bruins pounced, taking a three-goal lead in the first period on the way to a 7-2 win.
"I think we're three games down the road from that, so that's all more experience," St. Louis defenseman Jay Bouwmeester said. "We have a loud building, it'll be loud and people will be excited. But that's any building this time of year. They were the same last night in Boston, and they came out real hard. So it's a bunch of noise and you just have to get beyond it and focus on the task at hand."

The Blues are expecting another big push from Boston; the Bruins started strong in Game 5, outshooting St. Louis 17-8 in the first period. Rookie goalie Jordan Binnington was outstanding, finishing with 38 saves and keeping Boston off the scoreboard in the first period.
Pietrangelo said the Blues have to be ready from the opening face-off.
"We need to start better," he said. "They took momentum to us in the first. It's our job on Sunday to turn that back on them."
St. Louis is 6-6 at home this postseason, but three of those wins came in series-clinching games (Game 6 against the Winnipeg Jets in the Western Conference First Round, Game 7 against the Dallas Stars in the second round and Game 6 against the San Jose Sharks in the conference final). The Blues will need their best effort in the biggest potential clinching game in their history.
"It's always hard to close a team out," coach Craig Berube said. "We're going to get their best game, a lot like last night. They came out hard, they really poured it on in the first period, we hung in there. We're going to have to be really prepared to go, and in Game 6 we will be."