Half-Assed GDT: Blues at Wild

[AjaxManifesto]

I blame the veteran leadership on this team.

 

[AjaxManifesto]

Hey Yeo....it ain't working.

 

[The Note]

It’s December. I’m not pumped with how they’ve looked either, but they were due for a dip.

 

[shpongle falls]

Blues are stinging together a nice little losing streak lol. It's gonna happen to the best teams, as long as they make the playoffs healthy that's all that really matters. They'll get out of this little funk.

 

[EastonBlues22]

Blues pulled things together a bit from about 5 minutes left in the 2nd through the 3rd. Not outstanding, but a large step above the dumpster fire they had been previously and the last few games. So that's something.

Downside is that Minnesota didn't play a particularly good game themselves, and they managed to come away with the 2 points even after the Blues righted the ship a bit.

Remember how I said awhile back that we needed to see how Yeo did when the team was struggling (among other things) before we started drawing any conclusions about him? Well, it's Yeo time.

 

[TruBlu]

Is it time to hit the panic button because they look like dog ****.

We at least played with some energy. Our scoring has really dropped off. Outside of the last game against the wild, we are averaging a goal a game the last 5 games. It certainly doesn't look like a team effort at the moment. I'll be selling my tickets until they get their shit together. I can't remember the last time I went to 3 losses at home in a row.

 

[Davimir Tarablad]

At this rate the Blues should just tank the season and go for a high draft pick.

Holy over reaction

 

[Celtic Note]

I was expecting a downturn recently, but this is like an alter ego getting its day in the sun.

 

[mw2noobbuster]

Kind of funny how Tampa starts slumping as soon as the Blues do.

 

[AjaxManifesto]

Holy over reaction

I like the drama.

But f they keep at this pace they are doomed.

 

[TheDizee]

teams have figured out how to shutdown Blues D and first line from producing, you are now seeing how worthless our 2nd thru 4th lines are at producing. reminds me of the playoffs alot.

just think, if not for a few PP goals the past 2 games and a few late welfare goals vs anaheim, could easily be 3 straight games of being shutout lol.

Team is playing boring hockey and they deserve to be losers in each of the games. no intensity.

 

[Davimir Tarablad]

I like the drama.

But f they keep at this pace they are doomed.

Every team struggles through stretches. Saying we should tank because of a few bad games after two months of being on top is asinine

 

[Robb_K]

Is it time to hit the panic button because they look like dog ****.

Well, they DO need a shake-up. I'm not sure just benching a few veterans, and bringing up Barbashev and Kostin will help any. They problem is that The Blues skaters are not skating 20-30 minutes of games, and are not playing fundamentally sound hockey they are not backing up their driving teammates, not following up on plays, not backchecking well, not moving their legs on The PP, and not putting out the extra effort on The PK. Before this game, I'd have guessed that the team was riddled with the flu, playing sick. But, they had a lot of energy tonight (at least on offence), they just didn't play smart. Maybe they need a pep talk from a sports psychiatrist?

 

[Dbrownss]

I like the drama.

But f they keep at this pace they are doomed.

Dude seriously, it's idiotic to even suggest it. Throw in the towel after a 3 game skid? Rangers/Canadians went through far worse and are back in the race.

Chill the f*** out

 

[Mike Liut]

Glad I missed this one

 

[Meatball]

Plenty of time to sort it out, not at all worried.

 

[TheDizee]

why does everyone feel the need to dogpile on ajax? that is his opinion, so what. i think what he said is mostly true.

im sick of seeing people say "we expected this, its just a dip in the big picture of things". No, this shows they are more than capable of ONCE AGAIN being useless scrubs like they did against Nashville. it the same problems popping up again.

a lifeless PP (now complete with a terrible PK), top line and 91 being worthless scrubs and steen continuing to be a waste of a roster spot. this could very well be "the real blues" team. so its not overreacting when someone says something like that at all.

 

[Robb_K]

teams have figured out how to shutdown Blues D and first line from producing, you are now seeing how worthless our 2nd thru 4th lines are at producing. reminds me of the playoffs a lot.

just think, if not for a few PP goals the past 2 games and a few late welfare goals vs anaheim, could easily be 3 straight games of being shutout lol.

Team is playing boring hockey and they deserve to be losers in each of the games. no intensity.

I was thinking this same thing. There's been long enough now for LOTS of film of The Blues' new offensive system of 5-man wave O-Zone entries, and lots of Schwartz-Schenn-Tarasenko in action. Opponents have adjusted to what they've been doing, and they've been a lot less productive. Yeo's got to do something to change the team's mentality. Also, The Blues need to take a new strategy on The Power Play, and have the discipline to stick to it. None of my youth coaches would have stood for such lack of discipline. Players would have been riding the pine, and others playing, plus some extra hours of practise added.

 

[Vincenzo Arelliti]

This was a much better game than yesterday. Call the first half a fluke due to a back-to-back, and we played a decent 1/2 game. (I think things started gettinbetter at about 10 left in the 2nd).

Once we start playing in sync again, it won’t be nearly as bad. The team just has to get some practices in and out in the work.

Yeo doesn’t have me worried - except for the player placement. Steen on RW is baaaaaaaad. Bouwmeester needs to be sheltered for a while and can help out Dunn or Bortuzzo. Attacking the middle of the ice is key for all 5 players in the O-zone; either they are just saying by not doing, or they do not mean attacking the middle of the ice like I do, and that is concerning if their definition is to just get bodied in front and hope a blue line shot goes in. Got to get two men down low with the puck near the slot on the umbrella to apply pressure.

PP2 looks good because they actually run an umbrella sometimes. PP1 looks lost. Is it just becaus the zone entries are so bad? Berglund really helps with that on PP2, and Sobotka does a good job of that as well at ES. Getting a RW that not only can shot but also get into the zone (or at least help the others enter) will go a long way to fixing things.

Defensively the forwards and dmen have to start working together. There seems to be a lot of disconnect between D partners and forward lines that I’m willing to attribute to adding in Bouwmeester, Blais, an off-wing Steen, and Berglund. Berglund isn’t so much the problem, it’s more that the top 3 lines are all jumbled. Combine that with Dmen that don’t close gaps and don’t work together, and the forwards don’t know where to be to back them up and goals go in our net.

They’ll get it if this awful funk soon (I have faith in Yeo), but the personnel issues, and special teams coaching issues will need to be fixed, and that has me a bit worried.

Overall I’ll write this up to a lot of bad luck with the puck and line juggling, and our stars are pressing too hard to win the game for the team instead of the team winning the game for themselves. Allen is obviously overreacting to a lot of shots due to his disbelief (who could blame him) of the team in front of him.

I wouldn’t call this a dumpster fire. Instead, this is more like a grease fire where everyone keeps trying to pour water on it in order to save the day for everyone else. We’ve got to work together and smother it.

 

[AjaxManifesto]

Dude seriously, it's idiotic to even suggest it. Throw in the towel after a 3 game skid? Rangers/Canadians went through far worse and are back in the race.

Chill the **** out

No worries.

This not some 3 game losing streak of bad luck. It's 3 games of disorganized, half hearted play. Something happened to this team. Not sure what, but if they don't fix this, they should make this a rebuild year. Why waste our time with feckless hockey?

These points in Nov/Dec count just as much as the points in March/April. And if they can't get pumped to play division rivals or leaders like the Kings, then they need a serious gut check.

 

[Ranksu]

Rather go deep slump now then spring. I'm not worried one bit. All it counts when end of February comes. If we then play as this bad then now I'm pressing panic button.

 

[Dbrownss]

No worries.

This not some 3 game losing streak of bad luck. It's 3 games of disorganized, half hearted play. Something happened to this team. Not sure what, but if they don't fix this, they should make this a rebuild year. Why waste our time with feckless hockey?

These points in Nov/Dec count just as much as the points in March/April. And if they can't get pumped to play division rivals or leaders like the Kings, then they need a serious gut check.

Its an 82 game season. This is why the hot start was good. It offsets the losing streaks. That divison rival got spanked and St. Louis and didnt quite dominate this game in any fashion..... as for the Kings....they went through a funk not so long ago. If manangment or the players had this mentality, well Idk what that would look like...

There are games where you just dont have it, and thosr games can be magnified by shitty officating or bad puck luck. Leading central is not important, and home ice is not important either. Just make the playoffs. While these mid season games are important, the team doesn't have to be playing playoff hockey right now.

also...this team can't tank. DA just needs to target the right guy and get him on the roster.

 

[Mike Liut]

Teams can’t play pedal to the metal for 82 games. All teams go through funks. Funks are actually good. They expose weaknesses and things that need worked. Better to get these things figured out now than in March.

 

[Lakas]

Just gotta work through it. I was kind of anticipating that they'd look like **** with Bouwmeester and Berglund returning so close together. But still, I wish Steen would snap out of it.

 

[DoubleK81]

why does everyone feel the need to dogpile on ajax? that is his opinion, so what. i think what he said is mostly true.

im sick of seeing people say "we expected this, its just a dip in the big picture of things". No, this shows they are more than capable of ONCE AGAIN being useless scrubs like they did against Nashville. it the same problems popping up again.

a lifeless PP (now complete with a terrible PK), top line and 91 being worthless scrubs and steen continuing to be a waste of a roster spot. this could very well be "the real blues" team. so its not overreacting when someone says something like that at all.

And that .907 save pct out of Allen is really bailing us out.