GDT: ♬ @

[elkranio]

I agree, we are far from really sucking, just a bad stretch. I'm kinda relieved that we're having it now and not in the end of the season.

 

[Celtic Note]

I truly believe that Pietrangelo has been more or less scapegoated for Bouwmeester's terrible play this year.

Jbo hasn't been great this year. That much is certain. Outside of Shattenkirk no full time player has impressed or even played up to their level.

Honestly, that goes for the forward group too. Schwartz, Lethera and Tarasenko are our only positive players thus far and they look tired from carrying the team.

 

[Freyj]

Ya I don't know what to say to those who are really upset with this game. We were as good as the best team in the league tonight, far far far from pathetic like some are saying.

The lottery bottom feeder teams can put up a 1 goal game against Anaheim on any given night, it doesn't make them as good as Anaheim.

 

[542365]

So we go toe to toe with the ducks, the best team in the league and we are "very ordinary"?

Not just tonight, but we have seen this time and time again this year. We can play with the top teams, but rarely can we beat them. The Minnesota Wild and Washington Capitals play toe to toe with good teams also, and they are very ordinary teams. We are in that vein.

 

[kagei]

I agree, we are far from really sucking, just a bad stretch. I'm kinda relieved that we're having it now and not in the end of the season.

Ditto. Rather have the slump now than in the last 10 games.

 

[Backes to the wall]

We found a way to lose.

Ya and?
If we looked lethargic and were shut out i'd be upset, we were not, and had chances to win, we would win against 25 other teams with this effort tonight.
The other handful of teams we need to get better prepared for, but hardly worth getting mad about.

 

[Fred Murtz]

Andrew Cogliano snapshot goal 3-2

8

 

[542365]

Ya and?
If we looked lethargic and were shut out i'd be upset, we were not, and had chances to win, we would win against 25 other teams with this effort tonight.
The other handful of teams we need to get better prepared for, but hardly worth getting mad about.

I'm not mad, I'm simply saying we need a shakeup if we want to beat those elite teams. That's the goal, not "going toe to toe" with the good teams, beating them.

 

[Backes to the wall]

Not just tonight, but we have seen this time and time again this year. We can play with the top teams, but rarely can we beat them. The Minnesota Wild and Washington Capitals play toe to toe with good teams also, and they are very ordinary teams. We are in that vein.

I agree the team has looked awful at times this year, what I am saying is, this was not one of those nights, and to me this is a reason to be optimistic.
With a very minor tweaking it could have been US winning 4-3.
Last week I felt the team needed a BIG change.
I think you are looking at the result, not the effort.

 

[Note Worthy]

Ditto. Rather have the slump now than in the last 10 games.

But who says just because we're in a slump now that it can't also happen again in the last 10 games or playoffs or whatever?

It's not like teams are only given one slump per year or something.

 

[Meatball]

What happened to the original shakehead smilie? It's showing up as Rank's avi.

Getting trolled by the mods?

 

[Blanick]

My counter question would be: At what point should the players be held responsible if they aren't playing their best hockey?

In spite of claims to the contrary, I've seen plenty of positive adjustments made this year on the PP and at ES. I've liked what he's done with the lines when dealing with injuries. The strategy for attacking the Ducks tonight has been solid, and when the Blues have executed at the personal level they've had the better of the play. The Blues have generally played a good road game against a tough team.

Part of the problem is that the Blues really haven't had a healthy team to play together and build momentum for most of the year. Injuries and illness have made it a bumpy road. Another part of the problem is that a good number of our usual linch-pins started pretty slowly. Some of them have started to turn things back around (Pietrangelo, Oshie, etc.), but they aren't all there yet.

I really don't see how much, if any, of this can be laid at Hitchcock's feet.

Very nice of you to offer a counter question without actually answering me my question but I will go ahead and answer yours anyway. The players absolutely should be held responsible for their play and yes one or two of them should be moved along with the firing of Hitchcock. However, as we have heard oh so many times for oh so many GMs in the past and present, it is very hard to make a good hockey trade in this day and age. If there is a deal to be made that is even lateral move I would take it at this point as a sort of shakeup but I would still want Hitchcock gone. It is a sad but true adage that it is easier to fire the head coach to bring new life into the locker room and right now that is what this team needs is new life.

As far as the "improvements" you have seen on the PP, I am not impressed by us thrashing bottom of barrel teams on our PP and then utterly fail to generate anything against top teams which has lead to our misleading PP%. The PK has utterly regressed to a point of Oilers level bad and our ES play in our own end constantly forgets how to protect the middle of ice. As for the whole not being a healthy team all year, name the last team to go through an entire year without some kind of injury or illness... don't worry I'll wait. The answer is not one and using it as excuse is pure denial of bigger problems especially since our biggest strength going into the season was depth at every position.

It is a pretty well known and widely accept thought that Hitchcock can begin to wear on players over time and that IMO is what we are seeing. I think the players are going out and executing Hitch hockey and it's not working because again IMO other teams have figured it out. Like I said in previous GDTs and in this very one, Every year since Hitchcock has taken over this team it has gotten worse and worse despite bringing in a higher caliber of talent. Now that the loss is complete I ask you again: For what Stanley Cup contender is losing 6 of its last 7 and probably 7 or its last 8 after tomorrow acceptable?

 

[Note Worthy]

I'm not mad, I'm simply saying we need a shakeup if we want to beat those elite teams. That's the goal, not "going toe to toe" with the good teams, beating them.

Agreed. We should be past being happy with going toe to toe with them. A few years ago going toe to toe with the top team would be something for the Blues to be proud of.

But the team is past that stage now and should move on to winning and not just happy with going toe to toe with them.

We're obviously not going to win every game against these elite teams, I get that. But it seems like we're winning none. Zero.

That's the problem and has been for while.

 

[Fred Murtz]

Matt Beleskey wrist shot goal 4-3

4

 

[kagei]

But who says just because we're in a slump now that it can't also happen again in the last 10 games or playoffs or whatever?

It's not like teams are only given one slump per year or something.

Truly my hope is that the team can turn the corner on this and start to gain momentum leading up to the playoffs, whether that involves changes or not.

 

[BlueDream]

If you're not pissed off then you should be.

When's the last time we beat the Ducks, Kings or Hawks on the road? I believe we've lost the last 20.

This team can't beat good teams on the road and if you think that will suddenly change in the playoffs you're a naive fool. Team needs a change.

 

[542365]

I agree the team has looked awful at times this year, what I am saying is, this was not one of those nights, and to me this is a reason to be optimistic.
With a very minor tweaking it could have been US winning 4-3.
Last week I felt the team needed a BIG change.
I think you are looking at the result, not the effort.

We did some good things this game, no doubt. The problem, though, is that we are still seeing the same mistakes(spotty defensive coverage, offensive zone minors, poor breakouts) that have plagued us all season. I think something needs to happen to turn this thing around.

For the record, I'm not suggesting we make a huge blockbuster trading off someone like Backes/Petro/JBo, but something significant needs to be done or we're going to see the same mistakes the rest of the season.

 

[EastonBlues22]

Very nice of you to offer a counter question without actually answering me my question but I will go ahead and answer yours anyway. The players absolutely should be held responsible for their play and yes one or two of them should be moved along with the firing of Hitchcock. However, as we have heard oh so many times for oh so many GMs in the past and present, it is very hard to make a good hockey trade in this day and age. If there is a deal to be made that is even lateral move I would take it at this point as a sort of shakeup but I would still want Hitchcock gone. It is a sad but true adage that it is easier to fire the head coach to bring new life into the locker room and right now that is what this team needs is new life.

As far as the "improvements" you have seen on the PP, I am not impressed by us thrashing bottom of barrel teams on our PP and then utterly fail to generate anything against top teams which has lead to our misleading PP%. The PK has utterly regressed to a point of Oilers level bad and our ES play in our own end constantly forgets how to protect the middle of ice. As for the whole not being a healthy team all year, name the last team to go through an entire year without some kind of injury or illness... don't worry I'll wait. The answer is not one and using it as excuse is pure denial of bigger problems especially since our biggest strength going into the season was depth at every position.

It is a pretty well known and widely accept thought that Hitchcock can begin to wear on players over time and that IMO is what we are seeing. I think the players are going out and executing Hitch hockey and it's not working because again IMO other teams have figured it out. Like I said in previous GDTs and in this very one, Every year since Hitchcock has taken over this team it has gotten worse and worse despite bringing in a higher caliber of talent. Now that the loss is complete I ask you: For what Stanley Cup contender is losing 6 of its last 7 and probably 7 or its last 8 after tomorrow acceptable?

Forgive me for not engaging your strawman argument. There are plenty of things that fans, ownership, coaches, and players might consider unacceptable that happen throughout the year to every contending team. That doesn't in and of itself justify what you think should be done.

I see players making fundamental execution mistakes. These aren't even related to scheme execution. Tonight's loss hinged on Jackman falling down untouched. Other guys are routinely getting caught puck-watching. Changing the coach to breathe "new life into the room" isn't going to magically stop those mistakes from happening.

What I want to see from the coach is big picture adjustments. We've been complaining about the forwards not applying backside pressure. Tonight they did. We've been complaining about the defensemen backing in. The last few games they've generally been stepping up at the line. We've been complaining about soft gaps. Those have been closing. I'm (gradually) seeing the scheme adjustments I've been hoping to see, so I think Hitchcock is doing his job.

I'm not going to go back through every game log to compile a percentage against good teams, but after a pretty brutal start to the season, the PP scheming and personnel usage has improved significantly. I still disagree with some things I see here and there, but they're making in-game adjustments and I generally think they legitimately pose a threat. It's not some mirage built solely upon their play against weak teams.

The PK has been disappointing pretty much all year. There's a lot of things that I think factor into that, but you don't fire a head coach over that either.

I'm not using injury and illness as a blanket excuse to absolve anyone (or everyone) from all blame, but I think it's pretty short-sighted to believe that doesn't affect how teams/players are playing. By far our best goalie has played all of 15 games this year. Things like that matter.

I can go back through almost any year and find a contender that has suffered through an extended slump due to those reasons. It would be hard to find a year when one or more teams didn't.

 

[Backes to the wall]

We did some good things this game, no doubt. The problem, though, is that we are still seeing the same mistakes(spotty defensive coverage, offensive zone minors, poor breakouts) that have plagued us all season. I think something needs to happen to turn this thing around.

For the record, I'm not suggesting we make a huge blockbuster trading off someone like Backes/Petro/JBo, but something significant needs to be done or we're going to see the same mistakes the rest of the season.

I guess it would depend on what you consider significant.
For me when healthy I am happy with the play of the STL and SOB lines, is it reasonable to think a few games with Jaskin-Stastny-Reaves could be a thing?
Like I guess there could be a 4th liner out there who could add some more punch to an Ott-xxx Lapierre line, but if Reaves drops back down to the 4th, I don't think Berglund gets us much for that 3rd line.

You guys have said Read or Jagr, would that guy have helped us win tonight? Not so sure.

Either way I totally agree we had some mistakes in our end tonight that have to be addressed.

 

[Lakewood]

Jagr would help us in some situations, but he would need sheltered minutes and I can't believe how slow we look against quicker teams. We even look slow when we are chasing the play. Can we afford to get slower?

 

[TheOrganist]

The frustrating aspect of the Hitchcock system right now relates to the article JR wrote this morning. It again highlighted this often cited notion when things go sour that the Blues play "differently" than other teams and for the team to be successful they need to be 100% invested in a check and counter-punch system where every single roster player is on the same page to turn defense into offense.

That was probably true two years ago but the talent level has been upgraded to such a large degree that the current personnel has outgrown that Hitchcockian mindset. He's a victim of his past playoff failures because management went out and acquired some pure offensive players in the offseason, they lost Sobotka and Polak, and it's changed the dynamic of the roster. It's hard to make a solid argument that Hitchcock has changed with it considering the team's performance through the first 40 games. The Blues should be swarming teams. And they should be swarming good teams. Like Nashville did to us on Tuesday. Not the Colorado's of the world.

 

[EastonBlues22]

The frustrating aspect of the Hitchcock system right now relates to the article JR wrote this morning. It again highlighted this often cited notion when things go sour that the Blues play "differently" than other teams and for the team to be successful they need to be 100% invested in a check and counter-punch system where every single roster player is on the same page to turn defense into offense.

That was probably true two years ago but the talent level has been upgraded to such a large degree that the current personnel has outgrown that Hitchcockian mindset. He's a victim of his past playoff failures because management went out and acquired some pure offensive players in the offseason, they lost Sobotka and Polak, and it's changed the dynamic of the roster. It's hard to make a solid argument that Hitchcock has changed with it considering the team's performance through the first 40 games. The Blues should be swarming teams. And they should be swarming good teams. Like Nashville did to us on Tuesday. Not the Colorado's of the world.

The Blues have definitely had a tendency in the past to let their opponent dictate the style of game that they play. This year, I feel like when they stray from their style it is more from their own doing than their opponents. I'm not happy about that at all, but at the same time it's less concerning than where they were previously. At least they have a bit more control over their own fate.

Other teams are better at sticking to their particular styles, but they still require 100% investment to be consistently competitive against other good teams. That's not unique to the Blues (or Hitchcock's system) by any stretch of the imagination, and I feel like it's misleading for the article to imply otherwise.

 

[RastaBlues]

I think the team played well tonight. A poorly timed mistake cost us this game. I don't think Hitch should be fired, especially mid season. The D really stepped up after the first and our forwards became more engaged. Really liked the new STL line, they were working, lacking a little chemistry it seemed, but it was working.

At this point the main adjustment I'd like to see is more ice time for Tarasenko and less for Steen. I thought Steen played a great game but I think if we give Frank that time and he's able to get 11 shots off he get's more than 1 goal.

And Backes really needs to step up.

 

[KirkOut]

thoughts:

not terrible, not great. Could have won. everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong on the 4th goal. nobody stood out as being bad so I guess that's a positive. Buowmeester had a better game than what he has been giving recently. Maybe next time

 

[sbet1998]

Lehtera needs to center the 3rd line. Whatever chemistry he had with Tarasenko has dried up. When Schwartz comes back, I mean.