TORONTO -- Ken Hitchcock has a theory on how to deal with his team not scoring a lot of goals. Jarrett Stidham Jersey . "Just not talk about it," he said. "Talk about something else." Thats the approach the Stanley Cup-winning coach is taking with his St. Louis Blues, who have gone through a mini scoring slump. Of course they still lead the Western Conference, which is based on large part on being one of the NHLs stingiest defensive teams. "Ive always believed, like a lot of coaches, if youre not scoring, talk about checking. If you check better, youre going to get more chances," Hitchcock said Monday at Air Canada Centre. "The structure of our game, were just going to weather the storm. The structure of our game has got to stay solid like it is right now, and then well weather it and well come out on the other side fine." An 82-game regular season is a totally different animal than the Olympics, but a similar philosophy guided Team Canada to gold. Worries about a lack of offence from star forwards -- at least externally -- lasted well into the playoff round, but those were quieted by dominant play on the puck. "Its about controlling the hockey game. And you dont control the hockey game with offence, you control it with checking," said Hitchcock, who was one of Mike Babcocks assistants in Sochi. "We were tied or leading by one goal -- we werent concerned with the way we were playing that we werent scoring. It doesnt matter if youre leading 5-4 going into the third period or 1-0 as long as you have the lead youre in good shape." Like with Canada, Hitchcock said he feels comfortable seeing the Blues checking well because it means theyre "committed to the right things." One of those things hes proud of is that for a couple of games in a row St. Louis has displayed a high work standard. To Hitchcock, thats a bigger deal -- the way the Blues play -- than having an offence thats always rolling or a power play thats constantly clicking at a high rate. As far as special teams go, hes more concerned about the penalty kill and what that could mean come playoff time. "Ive seen a lot of (teams) who have had bad power plays do really well in the playoffs, but Ive never seen any team play worth a damn if you cant kill penalties," Hitchcock said. "Its more on can you kill the penalty at the right time because you can live with poor power plays and still win hockey games. But you cant survive if you cant kill penalties because your whole game falls apart, youre nervous, youre uptight, you panic and weve got to be great killing penalties." That would also follow Canadas blueprint. The gold-medal-winning Canadians converted on just 16.67 per cent of their power plays in six games, middle of the pack in the tournament, yet led the Olympics with a 93.75 per cent penalty-killing rate, giving up one goal on 16 chances. Hitchcock, though, must guide the Blues through choppier waters than Canada endured at the Olympics. Sixteen playoff victories are required to win the Stanley Cup, and most of those wont be by large margins. Perhaps thats one way the Blues balance plays in their favour. The have no one player in the top 35 in the league in scoring, but 10 with at least 30 points, led by Alex Steen and T.J. Oshies 54. St. Louis isnt built on scoring, which means they could be built to withstand droughts like this. "Youre going to go through stages where youre not scoring, and youre still going to have to win hockey games," Hitchcock said. "If youve got to win for a week or 10 days, youve got to win 1-0, 2-1, youve got to do it until you get back engaged where youre going to score again." Until then, the Blues are happy to talk about -- and execute on -- checking well and frustrating opponents in the process. Rob Gronkowski Patriots Jersey . -- Miami Dolphins defensive co-ordinator Kevin Coyle defended the management style of coach Joe Philbin in the wake of the teams bullying scandal. Andre Tippett Youth Jersey . Striker Dario Mandzukic scored the opener in the 22nd minute but was given a red card nine minutes later for a reckless tackle and left Croatia with 10 men for the remainder of the match. https://www.patriotssportsgoods.com/Womens-Stephon-Gilmore-Inverted-Jersey/ . The mixed zone is not a place to make friends.INDIANAPOLIS -- An off night from Paul George wasnt enough to derail the Indiana Pacers. Lance Stephenson had 20 points and 11 rebounds and centre Roy Hibbert added 18 points and 11 boards to help Indiana overcome an off night from George to improve their franchise-record home start to 11-0 with a 99-94 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats on Friday night. "I think he was in the flow for most of the game," Pacers coach Frank Vogel said of Stephenson. "Lance has great will, too. Lance made sure we had energy at both ends of the floor." George, who entered the contest averaging 24.7 points a game, finished with 10 points on 2-of-12 shooting for Indiana (20-3). The 23 games are the fewest the Pacers have needed to reach 20 wins in franchise history, beating the old mark set when they started 20-7 in 2003-04. That team finished 61-21, best in franchise history. Al Jefferson had 21 points and nine rebounds for the Bobcats (10-13), who extended their losing streak in Indiana to eight games. Charlotte hasnt won on the Pacers home court since Nov. 28, 2008. Stephenson added seven assists and David West scored 14 points, George Hill had 13 and Luis Scola 11 for Indiana (20-3). Rasual Butler, playing his most significant minutes (23:47) of the season, scored eight points on 3-of-5 shooting. "Thats a good win against a good team that we have respect for," Vogel said. "We understood this would be a battle of a game and it was." The Pacers led 56-55 at halftime in their first game since defeating the two-time defending champion Miami Heat on Wednesday night in a rematch of last seasons Eastern Conference Finals. They trailed by 90-89 after Gerald Henderson sank a 15-foot jump shot with 5:17 left in the fourth quarter, but Stephensons layup made it 91-90 with 4:18 to play. Indiana never trailed again though it was tight until the end. "We had them where we wanted," Jefferson said. "We didnt do a great job getting back on defence. We pllayed a heck of a game. Rob Gronkowski Youth Jersey. We had a chance there at the end to be exactly where we wanted to against a good team. We were right there." Jefferson scored on a layup with 2:14 to pull Charlotte within 96-94, but two free throws by Hill and another by George with 8.1 seconds left sealed the victory. "They made a couple of free throws and got it up to a five-point game, but we were right there with them," Bobcats guard Gerald Henderson said. "Theyre a good defensive team. They are a team that doesnt let you get to the rim. So we tried to drag them out to the perimeter and then attack against them." Though they failed to avenge a 25-point loss to the Pacers on Nov. 26 in Charlotte in the teams other meeting this season, the Bobcats accomplished one of their goals by shutting down George. Playing their fourth-straight game without Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (broken hand), the Bobcats called on Jeff Taylor to contain the Pacers star forward. "Jeff guarded him a lot," Henderson said. "I guarded him. Hes a tough cover. He can score in every way. You have to play him physical without fouling. He missed a lot of shots tonight. Hell go get 30 tomorrow." Vogel took some of the blame for Georges off night. "He didnt get a lot of clean looks. Thats on me," Indianas coach said. PACERS-BOBCATS NOTES: The Pacers host the Pistons on Monday night before their grudge match Wednesday at Miami. The Bobcats play the Lakers on Saturday in Charlotte. ... The game was a homecoming of sorts for Cody Zeller, the Bobcats No. 4 pick in the recent draft and a former Indiana standout. Zeller, who entered the game averaging 5.3 points and 4.2 rebounds, had seven points in 18:59. ... Pacers forward Danny Granger (calf injury) didnt suit up after saying earlier this week he might play against Charlotte. He hasnt played since the fifth preseason game on Oct. 15 and remains day to day. Granger missed all but five games last season with an injured left knee. ' ' '