Yep, GDT are becoming unreadable
I'll add to the chorus of finding the forum a lot less appealing when any bump in the road evokes an emotional meltdown. Even at that, its not like the Asylum until the debates devolve into "neener neener" and weakly obscured profanity.
I really enjoyed the pair of games. I'm sure fans of both teams had up and down moments. Both teams showed gutty comeback wins. The Kings happen to be on a skid, so the game in St Louis and the chance to come home represented their very best focused effort. I thought St Louis handled it well for the most part, better than in years past. I also thought that Schwartz being out of the line-up would be a big factor....I think its going to suck some juice out of the attack for a while.
The Blues miss Elliott. Allen is on schedule and has some nice starts, but uneven play at times. The Brodeur story has been invigorating and enjoyable. I'm really rooting for him. And he makes some great saves....but he also makes some routine saves look more exciting than they need to be. He's probably as good as the Blues could hope for in an emergency waiver back-up. But he's not playing at Elliott's level. I'm not calling for the team to jettison him or anything. I'm just noting that I think the team is going to suffer a bit until Elliott is back in place and in form, and last night was one of those nights.
I really like Lindbohm, especially for his physical play. He looks like he's been to the Jackman school of defense, and I think his emergence is going to make Jackman's next contract wind up making more sense with a different team. Butler took some flack in camp, and without televised games I can't really speak to the accuracy, but he's been reliable and steady in his limited time, a pleasant surprise. I'd like to keep him as the 7th man next year if this is what that looks like.
I love moments like when Lehtera scored when the defense and goalie are all focused on Tarasenko and he flips the puck to a secondary scoring threat. I think that may be the recipe to get Ott a goal some day.
But Tarasenko deserves a lot of credit for those types of goals. He scares opponents, plain as day, and its so fun to see a Blues player have that effect.
Some fans need to have a bit more patience with roster moves. It doesn't make sense to rip apart the team to do a trade right now. But at the deadline you can be certain Armstrong will make one or two trades to improve the offense for the playoffs. And its also smart for him to keep some flexibility for potential serious injuries (season ending) before he commits his chips. The goal for the Blues this season should be to finish 1st or 2nd to Chicago in the division. Just so that they're not the 1st round match-up. Ideally, Chicago and LAK can play each other in the first round.
But despite all the injuries and illnesses. Despite having our #1 goalie go down, and rarely having a healthy roster, the Blues are winning plenty of points and positioned right about where they need to be. I think almost unanimously we feel we haven't seen their best hockey yet. So....to me that's something to be pleased about. I know they have a higher post-season gear. We catch glimpses of it for a few sustained shifts, but I don't really think we're seeing the top-end effort that the playoffs will bring. I'm baffled why that situation is so intolerable to some posters, as I see it as a positive. If you can't enjoy a team that is a solid contender when there are fanbases having to endure stuff like Edmonton, Carolina, Winnipeg's injuries on D, Columbus' decimated team, etc. Those fans have something to complain about. But I don't see what justifies the kind of whining we're seeing around here so much lately.