St. Louis Blues vs. Chicago Black Hawks WATCH Live NHL Stanley Cup PLAYOFF Hockey 2014 from United Center Monday Night at 9:30 PM ET

The Blues don't want their recent playoff history repeating itself.

But the Blues' series against the defending Stanley Cup champions seems to be unfolding as it did last season when they took a 2-0 lead against Los Angeles and then dropped the next four games.

But it's hard not to see the parallels.

Last season, the Blues used their tight defensive style to pull ahead of the Kings in their opening postseason round by grinding out a pair of 2-1 wins in St. Louis.

It seemed as if the Blues, hungry for a deep playoff run, had set the tone.

But the Kings won Game 3 in Los Angeles 1-0 behind goalie Jonathan Quick, and used that as a springboard to four straight victories.

Fast-forward to 2014.

The Blues were better than Blackhawks for most of Monday's game. St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock was almost beaming after the game when said his team had delivered it best effort so far in the series.

"I said last night we played good, but not good enough," Hitchcock told the team's website. "I thought we were 80 percent in and if we're going to beat them tomorrow or win, we're going to have to make stronger commitment in our game.

Hitchcock knows from experience what his team is up against -- the defending Cup winner for the second straight year.

"You're not knocking off just a team in the league, it's a different animal," Hitchcock said. "You're knocking off the defending champion.

"They're not the defending champion because they have skill. It's because they've got resolve. You're trying to beat their resolve."

So the Blues hope to double down, focus on every one-on-one battle shift-after-shift, and be even tighter against Chicago.

The game will be live streaming online at gofirstrowus.eu/sport/ice-hockey.html‎