Pre-Game Talk: Blues v. Stars. Round II

[KirkOut]

No Seguin for at least the first two games.

I'm pleased.

Eh. It's the playoffs. There hasn't been official announcement that he'll miss the games. I wouldn't be too surprised if he is in game 1.

 

[Kariya 9]

Any room on the bandwagon for a fallen Ducks fan?

 

[Vladys Gumption]

Any room on the bandwagon for a fallen Ducks fan?

Hop on board!

 

[Dbrownss]

Any room on the bandwagon for a fallen Ducks fan?

 

[carter333167]

Any room on the bandwagon for a fallen Ducks fan?

Welcome! BTW, we empathize with the Ducks' fan...we've felt similar pain in the PO's.

 

[ManyIdeas]

Any room on the bandwagon for a fallen Ducks fan?

Absolutely. We were all rooting for you yesterday. For selfish, game start time related reasons....

 

[KirkOut]

They released the announcer lineups for the 2nd round and praise Jebus we don't have to listen to Eddie O even once

 

[Brian39]

Eh. It's the playoffs. There hasn't been official announcement that he'll miss the games. I wouldn't be too surprised if he is in game 1.

Their GM confirmed that he isn't skating yet and said he'll probably need 4-5 days once he started skating. Game 2 is Sunday, which is 3 days from today. It looks like he didn't skate again today. Even if he skates tomorrow, I have a very hard time believing 4-5 days would turn into 2 days in order to get him back for game 2.

Considering he re-injured himself after rushing back in the Wild series, I really, really doubt they would throw him into the playoffs against a physical team without a few days of practice to test the injury and get back up to speed.

 

[SirPaste]

They released the announcer lineups for the 2nd round and praise Jebus we don't have to listen to Eddie O even once

Eddie O drives me crazy but it's usually only when he is doing Hawks games, if it is us vs another team he isn't that bad

 

[Brian39]

We won a series, and I'm happy about it. It feels great right now. But 17 of the 30 NHL teams have won a series over the past 4 playoffs (18 if Nashville wins, 21 over 5 years). One series every 4 years does not exactly make us elite. Maybe the team won in spite of Hitch. We played horrendous this series with a lead and late in periods. That can be attributed strongly to coaching decisions, which includes benching Tarasenko. We won the series by fractions of an inch as well. The shot that could have sent Game 7 to OT was as close to going in as possible. So let's not act like this was a mandate from Heaven clearly showing Hitch is the better coach.

Winning this series, if we don't win another, might be the worst thing for this franchise. It encourages more of the same. Feels great right now, but one series is ultimately nothing. Ask Calgary fans if their win last year keeps them warm at night, or Ottawa fans if their win 2 years still keeps them smiling. Until we win a Cup, fans are justified in questioning the coach. Hopefully the Blues brass will do the same.

I think the bolded part really sells short the series we just won.

Over the same 4 year period, only 2 teams have eliminated the Blackhawks: Us and LA. It took LA overtime of game 7 and they went on to breeze past the Rangers in the Final to win the Cup.

In the same 4 year period, only 3 teams have knocked out the defending Cup champ: Us, LA and Chicago. Chicago won the Cup when they knocked out LA and LA won the Cup when they knocked out Chicago.

That is very good company and demonstrates how big of an accomplishment it is to beat the Blackhawks. Going back 7 years, the only other teams to eliminate the Hawks were the Coyotes and the Canucks. The Coyotes series had 5 of 6 games go to overtime. The Canucks series saw an 8th seeded Hawks team come back from a 3-0 series deficit to force game 7 overtime. They just don't go down easy. The last time they overwhelmingly lost a playoff series was 2009 when they lost in 5 to the Red Wings in the conference final. Hitch deserves credit for getting us past them, even if it was close.

 

[Stealth JD]

we're going to get punked so hard by Dallas...every analyst, neutral fan and objective observer (not Blues/Stars fans), thinks the Blues will win this.

I don't like the trap that is being laid.

 

[Brian39]

I posted this in the general playoff discussion, but it probably is better suited for this thread:

I think we have a good chance of winning this in 5.

The Stars goaltending is the worst left in the playoffs by a gigantic margin and both of them looked extremely beatable in the back half of the series against the Wild. 16 goals against in the last 4 games against a pretty mediocre Wild offense that was without it's best forward. I realize our offensive numbers over the full season were similar to Minnesota's, but I think it is clear that injuries greatly neutered our offense. We have been scoring much higher than our season average over the last month or so when healthy. I'm very confident that we can put up goals against the Stars.

The other huge factor is Tyler Seguin. He is going to miss games 1 and 2 and could very well miss more than that. He hasn't even resumed skating yet and the GM says he will need 4-5 days after he starts skating. If he starts skating immediately, he would be questionable for game 3 and likely wouldn't be 100%. My gut tells me he will only play 2-3 games in this series and won't be close to 100%. Honestly, I don't think their offense is any better than playoff-Chicago's without Seguin.

We looked darn good against the Hawks, who noticeably upped their level of play from the regular season. I think the Hawks offense is on par with a Seguin-less Stars team. On the blue line, the top 3 Hawks D are miles ahead of the top 3 on Dallas. The Stars' bottom 3 is better than the Hawks', but I don't think it is by a very wide margin. Goaltending isn't close. It took Crawford playing like a truly elite netminder every game to push us to 7. I don't see the Stars getting that level of goaltending for more than a game or 2.

Barring a significant stumble by the Blues, I think we should handle this series easily. Such a stumble shouldn't surprise any long term Blues fans, but this team feels dialed in. I think beating the Hawks will give them a boost in confidence rather than an excuse to let off the gas.

 

[Burynai]

Eh. It's the playoffs. There hasn't been official announcement that he'll miss the games. I wouldn't be too surprised if he is in game 1.

Yeah he's not even skating yet. I doubt he plays this series.

 

[Blanick]

They released the announcer lineups for the 2nd round and praise Jebus we don't have to listen to Eddie O even once

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You. I remember a game earlier this year on NBC where the Blues were playing some other team, maybe the Stars, and 15 minutes in he started talking about the Hawks.

 

[Note Worthy]

They released the announcer lineups for the 2nd round and praise Jebus we don't have to listen to Eddie O even once

Why would they? Chicago is already knocked out.

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

Welp now that the ducks are out, I guess ill be jumping on the blues bandwagon.. always been kinda my 2nd choice team(had kairya/McDonald, loved perron oshie when they were on the blues) big fan of Alex Pietrangelo. and of course how can you not love vladimir tarasenko, one of the most exciting players in the nhl. I love the way you guys draft and the players you find, always an exciting team.

Wishing you guys good luck in the rest of the playoffs , glad you guys got past Chi, was an awesome 7 game series, had me worried for a little bit. Hope you guys don't mind the occasional post.

 

[fishsandwichpatrol]

They released the announcer lineups for the 2nd round and praise Jebus we don't have to listen to Eddie O even once

 

[BlueDream]

Losing to this Dallas team without one of their best players would be as much of a failure as losing in the first round.

 

[Oberyn]

Losing to this Dallas team without one of their best players would be as much of a failure as losing in the first round.

If we had lost to the Hawks, I would have been disappointed but still accepted that fate. If we lose to the Stars I'm going to be pissed because there's no doubt in my mind that we're the better team, especially with Seguin out.

 

[Dbrownss]

Welp now that the ducks are out, I guess ill be jumping on the blues bandwagon.. always been kinda my 2nd choice team(had kairya/McDonald, loved perron oshie when they were on the blues) big fan of Alex Pietrangelo. and of course how can you not love vladimir tarasenko, one of the most exciting players in the nhl. I love the way you guys draft and the players you find, always an exciting team.

Wishing you guys good luck in the rest of the playoffs , glad you guys got past Chi, was an awesome 7 game series, had me worried for a little bit. Hope you guys don't mind the occasional post.

Welcome aboard!

 

[HappyGilmore]

Why is the thought of losing to the Stars even entering your minds? The Blues should end this series in 5 or 6 games, especially without Seguin in the lineup some of the games.

 

[HappyGilmore]

From what I have been reading from other places on the internet very few Chicago fans have any respect for our team. The general theme being we still choked because of the 3-1 lead that the Blues allowed to get to a 7th game. I have a hard time understanding this line of thinking, but oh well.

Have also seen from the majority of Stars fans around the internet they have very little fear/respect for the Blues as well. It looks like The Blues are going to be the red-headed step-child no matter how far they advance this year, and if I had to guess probably beyond.

I don't really see this though. A lot of Stars fans know exactly what they're getting themselves into, which is a vastly superior team.

 

[HappyGilmore]

I think the bolded part really sells short the series we just won.

Over the same 4 year period, only 2 teams have eliminated the Blackhawks: Us and LA. It took LA overtime of game 7 and they went on to breeze past the Rangers in the Final to win the Cup.

In the same 4 year period, only 3 teams have knocked out the defending Cup champ: Us, LA and Chicago. Chicago won the Cup when they knocked out LA and LA won the Cup when they knocked out Chicago.

That is very good company and demonstrates how big of an accomplishment it is to beat the Blackhawks. Going back 7 years, the only other teams to eliminate the Hawks were the Coyotes and the Canucks. The Coyotes series had 5 of 6 games go to overtime. The Canucks series saw an 8th seeded Hawks team come back from a 3-0 series deficit to force game 7 overtime. They just don't go down easy. The last time they overwhelmingly lost a playoff series was 2009 when they lost in 5 to the Red Wings in the conference final. Hitch deserves credit for getting us past them, even if it was close.

I agree with this. The Blues almost ended this series in game 5 when Lehtera shot low in the first OT. At the end of the day, the Blues have more momentum and depth than any other remaining team in the playoffs and will go up against the weakest playoff team remaining, which should build even more momentum.

 

[Falco Lombardi]

Any room on the bandwagon for a fallen Ducks fan?

And here I was thinking I would be jumping on the Duckswagon after round 1....


Welcome sir!

Also, anyone else elated to have John Forslund calling our games? My favorite PBP besides perhaps Hahn

 

[Evocable Manager]

Too much confidence. As long as we don't play complacent, this could be a short, sweet series.