GDT: ▲ @ ♫

[AVictoryDive]

I would call it laid back. It wasn't good that's for sure.

Disagree. The Avs got an ideal call and happened to capitalize. It happens.

 

[AVictoryDive]

You can come up with a long list of slower players who do just fine in the playoffs. Lucic, Pavelski, Stepan, just off the top of my head. The Kings have plenty of slower players. There's a long season ahead to see what becomes of Lehtera, but a big part of what makes him effective right now is how well he sees the ice and what he does with the puck. Nobody skates as quickly as the puck moves.

Honestly, from hearing the scouting reports, Lehtera seems to be a little quicker than I expected. The major differnece will be towards the end of the season. So far he has elite hockey sense on both ends and that's all that counts.

 

[Note Worthy]

Disagree. The Avs got an ideal call and happened to capitalize. It happens.

Right, it happened because the PK wasn't very good.

 

[Oberyn]

Our PK may as well just sit in the stands for the 2 minutes because all they do is watch the powerplay. I'm not trying to be negative, but that's what I'm seeing right now and that's what I saw last season as well. Their just isn't any urgency from them and it feels like they're trying to play too sound positionally. Great players will find seams even if you think you have the passing lanes covered, that's why you need to force them to make a less than ideal pass by putting on pressure.

 

[AVictoryDive]

Right, it happened because the PK wasn't very good.

Or it happened because the Avalanche just happened to be that much quicker. You just seem to love to bash the PK. Hey, I wish they would have stopped it, but Mackinnon is super quick, and it was a crappy call.

 

[EastonBlues22]

Didn't think the reffing was particularly great tonight, but it didn't strike me as being overtly biased. There were some missed calls, and some bad calls, but that's life and the team just needs to fight through it.

Team played a pretty solid game. Happy to see their effort rewarded with 2 points.

 

[Lord Helix]

You can come up with a long list of slower players who do just fine in the playoffs. Lucic, Pavelski, Stepan, just off the top of my head. The Kings have plenty of slower players. There's a long season ahead to see what becomes of Lehtera, but a big part of what makes him effective right now is how well he sees the ice and what he does with the puck. Nobody skates as quickly as the puck moves.

Note that I said in transition. His ability to think the game is great, but with less time and space because of a lack of North/South speed, you're going to see a notable drop in effectiveness...Especially against the top teams.

I'm not hating on the guy. In fact, I love how he plays the game. That being said, I see an issue with his top end speed, so I have to ask myself how his game will translate when the games really matter.

 

[Note Worthy]

Or it happened because the Avalanche just happened to be that much quicker. You just seem to love to bash the PK. Hey, I wish they would have stopped it, but Mackinnon is super quick, and it was a crappy call.

So you thought the PK was great and just had no answer for the Avs? I just can't get on board with that. The PK gave them tons of time and space.

 

[Oberyn]

Didn't think the reffing was particularly great tonight, but it didn't strike me as being overtly biased. There were some missed calls, and some bad calls, but that's life and the team just needs to fight through it.

Team played a pretty solid game. Happy to see their effort rewarded with 2 points.

That's a good way to describe the reffing.

We were exceptional 5on5 up until the 3rd period where we started to unravel a bit. I think we did a pretty good job of shutting down the speed of Duchene/Mackinnon for the most part which was good to see.

 

[Mike Liut]

PP and PK needs to be better. Stas will help the PP. I don't think several of the Blues are 100% either. Stamina looks down from the infection. It won't be long and they will be healthy

 

[AVictoryDive]

Our PK may as well just sit in the stands for the 2 minutes because all they do is watch the powerplay. I'm not trying to be negative, but that's what I'm seeing right now and that's what I saw last season as well. Their just isn't any urgency from them and it feels like they're trying to play too sound positionally. Great players will find seams even if you think you have the passing lanes covered, that's why you need to force them to make a less than ideal pass by putting on pressure.

Well, when you get questionable calls against you when the potential players could possibly have a viral infection it does play a difference. You are totally blind if you don't recognize that. The Avs took advantage of those plays and captilaize enough said. I would not say we played poorly, just that the Avs just made the right plays.

 

[AVictoryDive]

PP and PK needs to be better. Stas will help the PP. I don't think several of the Blues are 100% either. Stamina looks down from the infection. It won't be long and they will be healthy

Our PP was indeed not great, but hey not totally bad. We made some key plays, but Varlamov was sharp. These types of games happen.

 

[Oberyn]

Well, when you get questionable calls against you when the potential players could possibly have a viral infection it does play a difference. You are totally blind if you don't recognize that. The Avs took advantage of those plays and captilaize enough said. I would not say we played poorly, just that the Avs just made the right plays.

The PK was passive last season as well. What was their excuse then?

 

[AVictoryDive]

Anyway, the STL line was easily the best. Shattenkirk & Pietrangelo were pretty damn good and Gunnarson was deifnitely a factor. I'm happy we won.

 

[Dbrownss]

You can see the sickness affecting Bouwmeester, I'd also guess Schwartz is sickish...he hasn't been very sharp either.


There no way Vladi isn't a star this week...5 goals and an assit.

 

[Robb_K]

The Blues are now only 1/2 game back of The lead in The Central, while being stricken with illness and hit hard by injuries to key players, and still unable to have their eventual lines play together enough to develop optimum chemistry. Imagine how they'll play when fully healthy, and when all the new players have been fully integrated. I'm confident that they'll finally be able to compete on an even level with The Kings, Ducks and Hawks.

 

[LGB51]

Our PK may as well just sit in the stands for the 2 minutes because all they do is watch the powerplay. I'm not trying to be negative, but that's what I'm seeing right now and that's what I saw last season as well. Their just isn't any urgency from them and it feels like they're trying to play too sound positionally. Great players will find seams even if you think you have the passing lanes covered, that's why you need to force them to make a less than ideal pass by putting on pressure.

That sounds like something Hitch has done then, harped on them enough to be positionally responsible in every area of the game, and this is the end result. "Must maintain the integrity of the diamond!" St. Louis Blues PK'er (insert name or number here) says to himself lol

 

[Robb_K]

PP and PK needs to be better. Stas will help the PP. I don't think several of the Blues are 100% either. Stamina looks down from the infection. It won't be long and they will be healthy

The PK will be better this season, with great positioning Gunnarsson instead of the erratic Polak, and Stastny, Lehterä, and Lindström added. The 2nd shift will be significantly stronger.

The same is true for The PP, adding Stastny, Lehterä, and Lindström, and with the improvement of Tarasenko and Schwartz.

The units just need to play together for a while.

The Blues should cruise through the regular season, not splitting a gut, trying to get the 1st seed. And they'll turn it on at the start of the stretch run, and (I hope) continue to play strongly during the playoffs.

 

[Meatball]

The Blues are now only 1/2 game back of The lead in The Central, while being stricken with illness and hit hard by injuries to key players, and still unable to have their eventual lines play together enough to develop optimum chemistry. Imagine how they'll play when fully healthy, and when all the new players have been fully integrated. I'm confident that they'll finally be able to compete on an even level with The Kings, Ducks and Hawks.

If Oshie can start scoring again this might very well be the case. Getting he and Backes to start scoring again will be key to us keeping up with the Jones's.

 

[Robb_K]

Calling it now...Lehtera doesn't have the top gear to be really effective in the playoffs. When the speed ramps up, he's going to have serious problems in transition offensively and defensively. Steen and Tarasenko would be taking on quite a bit more responsibility.

I disagree. I think he'll be fine in the playoffs. With Steen and Tarasenko as speedy skaters, and with Lehterä as a slightly better than average straightaway skater, and now only a slightly worse than average start, I don't foresee any problems. He's a very clutch player, too. I think he'll surprise a lot of doubters in the playoffs.

 

[bluesman11]

The Blues are now only 1/2 game back of The lead in The Central, while being stricken with illness and hit hard by injuries to key players, and still unable to have their eventual lines play together enough to develop optimum chemistry. Imagine how they'll play when fully healthy, and when all the new players have been fully integrated. I'm confident that they'll finally be able to compete on an even level with The Kings, Ducks and Hawks.

I hope you're right, and there's no doubt they're closed the gap if completely healthy.

They need to stay healthy and peak late.

 

[Alklha]

The worry with Lehterä is the number of games he is going to play this season. 82 and playoffs is going to be a fair few more than he has played in any prior season, and the games are more intense. I've been one of his biggest fans over the past few years, but my expectations won't be high for his performance late in the season.

 

[LGB51]

Apparently Reaves has a upper body injury from that elbow to the face no-call he took. He'll be evaluated Monday, hope he's okay. As funny as it is to say it, Reaves has come up big for us in this win streak supplying grit, pressure, and crazy as it sounds goal production. With only a handful of players contributing to scoring right now, we really can't have any of them sit out. And yes I'm at least being half serious about Reaves lol.

 

[EastonBlues22]

The Blues as a team have recently done a much better job of finding open ice with their puck movement in the face of strong defensive pressure. Tarasenko and Lehtera in particular have been notable contributors in this area. It's one of the reasons I'm rather bullish on Lehtera's potential playoff impact.

 

[LGB51]

Brian Elliot is being interviewed on the NHL Network's Arena Cam right now. Nice that he's being recognized for his outstanding work in net. Then they did a pretty good 2 minute segment after Elliot's interview (although Ells did answer a question or 2 about Tank as well before the end of it) gushing on Tarasenko breaking out, and just how dangerous he is. Nice to see NHL Network acknowledge our young talent, (Schwartz got a nice mention as well) and recognize just how good they are.