Half-Assed GDT: Blues @ Stars Game 2

[Borderbluesfan]

Hey, we just took a game on the road in the second round of the playoffs. We are in a good position in the second round. How many times in the last few years could we say this, lol??? Blues responded well after looking bad the first game after a hard 7 game series against Chicago.

 

[Evocable Manager]

Well looking at players individually, Fabbri was our best forwards. 2 assist, some sweet plays.
On the Berglund goal, he had the awareness to pass and the hands to be able to put it in a position Berglund could just blast.
Then shows he is calm with the puck on the cycle, patient, waits for the lane to open and sends a crisp pass on a tee for Shattenkirk. Brouwer gets the garbage.

Schwartz also had a good game. Some big shot blocks, working in the D zone, the first goal was due to Tarasenko's miscoverage not Schwartz.

I thought Shattenkirk was also very good. Moving the puck out with some good breakouts a couple assist and shots. Good show from him.

Backes with a physical presence an assist and the OT winner.

Elliott played like Elliott, none of the three goals were his fault even though he lossed his footing on the Benn goal [or so it seemed].

As for the team I thought we were much better. We physically out played Dallas, getting in on the for check and applying pressure. We were getting momentum and chances, however as you all know we stopped playing on our toes and backed up in the 3rd.

Maybe you guys disagree but I find when we have a lead (specifically 2 goals) we starting "playing to not lose" and don't "play to win". We become so defensive don't apply pressure, play on our heels, give the opponent space to generate speed and get into our zone. We have to keep the game tense, up-tempo and energetic to win. That's my take on our play with a lead.

 

[Spektre]

Can't wait till Captain Play It Safe is gone

 

[Note Worthy]

After seeing all the Stars fans going overboard with officiating, I have to wonder; is this how we sounded to Hawks fans in the first round? It's so annoying. I feel bad now.

 

[Spektre]

After seeing all the Stars fans going overboard with officiating, I have to wonder; is this how we sounded to Hawks fans in the first round? It's so annoying. I feel bad now.

I can be objective when it comes to penalties. They let calls go that could have been called both ways. It wasn't a great ref'd gane but nothing crazy bad. The two penalties Dallas took in OT were just glaring.

 

[Mzeppelin1]

Was gonna go today, but my dog died. At least something good happened today.

 

[542365]

After seeing all the Stars fans going overboard with officiating, I have to wonder; is this how we sounded to Hawks fans in the first round? It's so annoying. I feel bad now.

Generally, yes, but we actually had a case. Game 3 against Chicago was seriously one of the poorest officiating performances I've ever seen. The call on Roussel in OT was borderline, but the exact same thing was called against us when Shaw when looking for someone to get interfered by. Roussel stuck his hip into a guy that was attempting to defend a rush, it's interference. If they don't call it, it's not the worst misscall of all time, but it was a penalty.

Goligoski in particular got away with at least 5 stick infractions in this game. They lost because they employ a guy that plays right on the line. On his good days he's annoying to play against and draws lots of penalties. On his bad days(like today) he takes quite a few stupid penalties and hurts his team. That's the chance you take when you ice someone like Roussel.

 

[TheBluePenguin]

After seeing all the Stars fans going overboard with officiating, I have to wonder; is this how we sounded to Hawks fans in the first round? It's so annoying. I feel bad now.

The thing about the Chicago series is we also had every other teams fans taking our side. Pretty simple on this board, if the majority is on your side there is a good chance your opinion is correct. I would have to read what non Dallas fans or saying.

 

[Robb_K]

Well looking at players individually, Fabbri was our best forwards. 2 assist, some sweet plays.
On the Berglund goal, he had the awareness to pass and the hands to be able to put it in a position Berglund could just blast.
Then shows he is calm with the puck on the cycle, patient, waits for the lane to open and sends a crisp pass on a tee for Shattenkirk. Brouwer gets the garbage.

Schwartz also had a good game. Some big shot blocks, working in the D zone, the first goal was due to Tarasenko's miscoverage not Schwartz.

I thought Shattenkirk was also very good. Moving the puck out with some good breakouts a couple assist and shots. Good show from him.

Backes with a physical presence an assist and the OT winner.

Elliott played like Elliott, none of the three goals were his fault even though he lossed his footing on the Benn goal [or so it seemed].

As for the team I thought we were much better. We physically out played Dallas, getting in on the for check and applying pressure. We were getting momentum and chances, however as you all know we stopped playing on our toes and backed up in the 3rd.

Maybe you guys disagree but I find when we have a lead (specifically 2 goals) we starting "playing to not lose" and don't "play to win". We become so defensive don't apply pressure, play on our heels, give the opponent space to generate speed and get into our zone. We have to keep the game tense, up-tempo and energetic to win. That's my take on our play with a lead.

That is VERY TRUE. But, I don't believe Hitchcock when he says he doesn't tell his team to play that way. He has cut the shifts' time way down, and tells his players to get the puck in deep, and "get off fast".

But, he also has given orders for his defencemen to not pinch in to try to help score (he admitted this). That means, that in 95% of the entries, the puck will be given up to the opponents after 1 shot, or one or two hits by the opponents. And that loss off possession means that the opposing team (especially the fast=skating Stars) will be back in The Blues' zone in a few seconds.

It's tantamount to giving up the puck quickly, virtually every possession, because The Blues don't have the puckhandlers and shooters to score 3 on 5, when the Stars KNOW that they only need to defend those 3 players. It's totally irrational - a TERRIBLE strategy. It might be okay for the last 1:30, but not 8 minutes, and certainly not a whole period!

 

[Captain Creampuff]

Was gonna go today, but my dog died. At least something good happened today.

That sucks man. I'm sorry for your loss. My big guy is getting up there in age

 

[Evocable Manager]

That is VERY TRUE. But, I don't believe Hitchcock when he says he doesn't tell his team to play that way. He has cut the shifts' time way down, and tells his players to get the puck in deep, and "get off fast".

But, he also has given orders for his defencemen to not pinch in to try to help score (he admitted this). That means, that in 95% of the entries, the puck will be given up to the opponents after 1 shot, or one or two hits by the opponents. And that loss off possession means that the opposing team (especially the fast=skating Stars) will be back in The Blues' zone in a few seconds.

It's tantamount to giving up the puck quickly, virtually every possession, because The Blues don't have the puckhandlers and shooters to score 3 on 5, when the Stars KNOW that they only need to defend those 3 players. It's totally irrational - a TERRIBLE strategy. It might be okay for the last 1:30, but not 8 minutes, and certainly not a whole period!

There is no way the players say " let's back down and give up time, space and possession to them".

A coach is responsible for how a team plays and the style, strategy and approach the team has. So it can be put on Hitchcock for the short shifts, passive style of play.

The way I see it, you have a lead for a reason don't put yourself in a position to lose but play the same way. Be up-tempo, up-beat, physical, imposing and grind them down. So I never understand why turtle. I hate it, you grind seconds down by having the puck and forcing a weak defense to play defense.

At the end of the day were going back to Scottrade in a 1-1 series. Its a good position to be in, especially if we take advantage of both games.

 

[2 Minute Minor]

Was gonna go today, but my dog died. At least something good happened today.

Sorry to hear it.

 

[Renard]

I have just read all the comments about Hitchcock and the hockey version of the "prevent defense."

I didn't get to see the game, but I'm guessing that Dallas changed what it did offensively in the third period, and we reacted to that. Being down two goals in the third period, I'm guessing that Dallas went with their top two lines exclusively, and maybe double shifted their best offensive players. That's how you try to catch up, and it puts the Blues in the mode of defending rather than attacking.

 

[KirkOut]

After seeing all the Stars fans going overboard with officiating, I have to wonder; is this how we sounded to Hawks fans in the first round? It's so annoying. I feel bad now.

I had a good laugh at the guy who posted a still photo claiming it was a hook that should have been called

 

[Spicy Panger]

Was gonna go today, but my dog died. At least something good happened today.

Really sorry for your loss. It's never easy to lose one of our furry family members

 

[fishsandwichpatrol]

After seeing all the Stars fans going overboard with officiating, I have to wonder; is this how we sounded to Hawks fans in the first round? It's so annoying. I feel bad now.

I feel like our general feelings were only wrong in game 2. A few big (right) calls went against us and emotions were high.

 

[Blues0307]

I have just read all the comments about Hitchcock and the hockey version of the "prevent defense."

I didn't get to see the game, but I'm guessing that Dallas changed what it did offensively in the third period, and we reacted to that. Being down two goals in the third period, I'm guessing that Dallas went with their top two lines exclusively, and maybe double shifted their best offensive players. That's how you try to catch up, and it puts the Blues in the mode of defending rather than attacking.

We went into a defensive shell. Every time we had possession we shot the puck down the ice and went off for a line change. We had a total of 2 shots the whole period. The first two periods we were forechecking and putting a lot of pressure on Dallas's defense. The change in strategy almost cost us the game and the puck was in our zone seemingly the entire period.

 

[Alklha]

I have just read all the comments about Hitchcock and the hockey version of the "prevent defense."

I didn't get to see the game, but I'm guessing that Dallas changed what it did offensively in the third period, and we reacted to that. Being down two goals in the third period, I'm guessing that Dallas went with their top two lines exclusively, and maybe double shifted their best offensive players. That's how you try to catch up, and it puts the Blues in the mode of defending rather than attacking.

Dallas are weak defensively, good teams need to look to expose that. They are too good offensively to contain, even without Seguin.

It is perfectly acceptable to have a defense first game plan when you are leading 3-1 in the third, but part of that plan needs to be looking at exploiting the holes in an increasing desperate team. That simply wasn't there. Dallas attack, we get possession, dump it in and go for a line change after a short short shift. There was no attempt to apply pressure.

 

[Lakas]

After seeing all the Stars fans going overboard with officiating, I have to wonder; is this how we sounded to Hawks fans in the first round? It's so annoying. I feel bad now.

When talking about officiating,one would have have to take into consideration that people are going to be biased for their team and claim that officiating slighted them. That said, last series, many impartial observers could see that the calls were favoring one side. Not so much in this one...so far.

 

[Lakewood]

Was gonna go today, but my dog died. At least something good happened today.

Sorry to hear that mr z hope he/she was old and lived a good life. Losing a cherished pet is very hard, harder than your favorite team losing for sure. I can't believe I'm going to name my next dog Dallas. Could be worse I guess. A Missouri dog named Toronto wouldn't last long.

 

[Lakewood]

Was gonna go today, but my dog died. At least something good happened today.

Sorry to hear that mr z hope he/she was old and lived a good life. Losing a cherished let is very hard, harder than your favorite team losing for sure. I can't believe I'm going to name my next dog Dallas. Could be worse I guess. A Missouri dog named Toronto wouldn't last long.

 

[Vladys Gumption]

That call on Roussel in OT absolutely had to be made. It was blatant inference that would have directly led to a high quality scoring chance. That's the kind of thing that they actually do call in the playoffs.

On a side note, I thought Schwartz had himself a very good game, particularly defensively.

 

[Robb_K]

That call on Roussel in OT absolutely had to be made. It was blatant inference that would have directly led to a high quality scoring chance. That's the kind of thing that they actually do call in the playoffs.

Yes! The refs were letting most but the most grievous infractions go uncalled. But Roussel's interference stopped The Blues from having 3 on 1 deep inside The Stars' zone, and surely would have led to an easy scoring chance, and almost a "gimmee goal". They HAD to call that. The late ignored Stars' infractions would not have immediately set up good scoring chances (or they'd have called them). The refs have been unbiased in this series, so far.

 

[TheDizee]

ruff was crying about the refs. LOL he should be crying about how rouselle took pronger and tkachuk types of stupid penalties.

 

[Sushiko]

Was gonna go today, but my dog died. At least something good happened today.

So sorry to hear about your dog. I recently lost my first dog after over 12 years. It was extremely difficult. You can always PM me if you wanna vent.

In another note, I had to miss the game due to work. I heard we had a good lead and played well but the 3rd wasn't so great. I was disappointed to hear we were going that direction again, relieved we won even if it wasn't the best way. Hope we do better and get both home ice wins. Gotta do better if we wanna move forward.