GDT: Game 5: Hawks @ Blues 7 PM CDT (Mod warnings in OP and #483)

[simon IC]

Hawks fan here, I come in peace.

You guys are being very hard on your team. Every game so far in this series could have gone either way. You have a long way to go to reach Cubs like futility, lol.

I am not a recent Cup bandwagon Hawks fan, either. We had decades of futility and an owner who treated the Hawks like NHL's minor leagues, wouldn't televise home games, etc.

A very close series, and not over yet. I understand your level of frustration. The bandwagon Hawks fans do not represent the real fans who were long-suffering and supported a really bad product until the recent successes. Apologies, those bandwagon fans embarrass us too.

Don't give up on your team. They have played us very evenly and nothing to be ashamed of at all.

Classy post, thank you. Been a Blues fan since the 70's (yes Im old, lol) and have endured a lot of heartbreak. In the last couple of years our team our team has finally become a contender, so expectations are high and so are the standards of our fanbase. It's far from over. I agree there can be improvements, but I'm proud of our team.

 

[JustOneB4IDie]

The Blues have a good team, and they will get continuously better in each of the next few years. I think they'll win The Stanley Cup within the next 3 years.

Hope your right because in 3 years the window to win the cup for the Blues will be closing is all I have to say about that.

 

[GrandPapillon*]

The Blues didn't just become a contender. The Blues have been so-called contenders several times in my lifetime. They've had Gretzky and Hull together. No Cup. Chopper and Pronger. No Cup. They've added Tkachuk and Weight to get them over the edge. No Cup.

Some of those teams managed to at least win a freaking playoff series at least though

You can blame luck or hockey gods or superstition or whatever nonsense people do to help them sleep at night. In reality though, the Blues team over the years have made poor personnel decisions, been too hesitant to fully embrace full skill players in favor of character grinders and muckers, and have repeated the same sorts of mistakes over and over again. After a brief detour in pooptown, the Blues are right back to where they were when they made the playoffs 25 straight years with nothing to show for it.

 

[Lord Helix]

Or we get a lucky bounce, we hit a few open nets, don't take a dumb penalty or 2, we hit a few non-open nets, actually getting past Crawford, score maybe 5 goals... unheard of I know but it would be great. Pull their heads out and play like a real, top-notch quality NHL team that wants a cup?

Oh, stop laughing now.

I sense...humor in your post.

 

[Colt 55]

Reading some of y'alls comments after the loss are literally making me sick. Yes, we lost and we deserved too. We have been outplayed by the defending cup champs 2 games in a row and that typically results in loses, but that doesn't mean this series is over. May god **** the Blackhawks

 

[Tryblot]

When Oshie had that 2 on 1, if he would have shot it right away he would have scored. Instead he gave the puck a little tap to control it and it gave Crawford enough time to get over.

 

[LongLiveTheNote]

I disagree, they are both every bit as good as Crawford and even Miller. Miller has done nothing to prove he is a better option then any of the other 3. For all the fuss that has been made about him this year in Buffalo, I cannot believe how many times we've seen him get straight beat or just freeze up on breakaways. I thought we was supposed to be amazing at stoning breakaways, I haven't seen any of that. For as hyped as he was, I'd be hard pressed to give him or this trade a passing grade.

I know one thing, I really hope The Blues don't waste another draft pick by trying to re-sign this guy. He's SO not worth another 1st round pick, for the love of all that is sacred, please just let him walk in the off-season Army. He already is the loser of this awful deal, don't make it worse by re-signing him, and screwing up Allen's ascension. We don't need another Bishop (Allen's possibly even better imo) incident happening.

This. Please don't make it worse. I was a big fan of the trade, but he has proved to be nothing special/wager the future of the franchise on.

 

[Vladys Gumption]

Just saw the replay of the winner. That is absolutely unacceptable. How do you give Jonathan Toews a freaking breakaway in overtime? Then again, we did it to ourselves. This game never should have gone to overtime. We've had the exact same issues as last year. The sad part is, the issue isn't generating chances, because we've done more than our fair share. Once again, it's basically pewee level stuff that's killing us. You cannot miss wide open nets and layups if you want to win. You just can't. This series is so incredibly frustrating because so far it's been a repeat of the LA series last year. And all it's doing is reinforcing my belief that we gave up entirely too much for Ott and Miller when goaltending was not the greatest need. It never has been. This team is built to win with a decent goalie. Tarasenko is really only finisher, and you just can't win in the playoffs with one guy that can score.

Also, shame on anybody who is giving up on this team or is doing nothing but pissing and moaning about a repeat of last year. Until we lose the fourth game, this series is not over. So boo on you. I'm so tired of the negative attitude around this place. I get the frustration with losing, but god damn.

 

[Sushiko]

The Blues still have a change guys im pulling for you

I just want to say that the Blues remind me a lot of the Sens from 1998 to 2006 where we were one of the best team in the league but could never get it done in the playoffs.

So i know the feeling its very frustrating

Thank you for your post & support!

Hawks fan here, I come in peace.

You guys are being very hard on your team. Every game so far in this series could have gone either way. You have a long way to go to reach Cubs like futility, lol.

I am not a recent Cup bandwagon Hawks fan, either. We had decades of futility and an owner who treated the Hawks like NHL's minor leagues, wouldn't televise home games, etc.

A very close series, and not over yet. I understand your level of frustration. The bandwagon Hawks fans do not represent the real fans who were long-suffering and supported a really bad product until the recent successes. Apologies, those bandwagon fans embarrass us too.

Don't give up on your team. They have played us very evenly and nothing to be ashamed of at all.

I wish there were way more Hawks fans like you. Unfortunately I see maybe 10% like you, 90% the other types. Thanks for your post.

Hope your right because in 3 years the window to win the cup for the Blues will be closing is all I have to say about that.

That's what I think too, and probably why I'm so bummed. I feel like if it's not going to get done soon, the team will be at the bottom for who knows how long. Will they be like Florida, Edmonton, etc? That's a scary feeling. Think of all the business and ticket sales lost. Maybe I'm overreacting but I don't think fans will support a team in that position for very long.

The Blues didn't just become a contender. The Blues have been so-called contenders several times in my lifetime. They've had Gretzky and Hull together. No Cup. Chopper and Pronger. No Cup. They've added Tkachuk and Weight to get them over the edge. No Cup.

Some of those teams managed to at least win a freaking playoff series at least though

You can blame luck or hockey gods or superstition or whatever nonsense people do to help them sleep at night. In reality though, the Blues team over the years have made poor personnel decisions, been too hesitant to fully embrace full skill players in favor of character grinders and muckers, and have repeated the same sorts of mistakes over and over again. After a brief detour in pooptown, the Blues are right back to where they were when they made the playoffs 25 straight years with nothing to show for it.

Exactly, and this is what frustrates the crap out of me. Going back over the past and having the players to get it done but we don't... and we are back at that place but yet we're not even winning series. We have what we need and we should be getting something done and we aren't. MacInnis, Pronger, all those boys we had... and being the so-called contenders. Thinking how we are the only team that's been around as long as we have, and not only no cup but no appearance in the finals in my lifetime? And I'm not that young. At this rate, we'll start to see the Predators and the Sharks getting cups before we even make an appearance in the 3rd round.

I sense...humor in your post.

Yeah well, it's all I have right now I guess

Just saw the replay of the winner. That is absolutely unacceptable. How do you give Jonathan Toews a freaking breakaway in overtime? Then again, we did it to ourselves. This game never should have gone to overtime. We've had the exact same issues as last year.

Right... unacceptable. I don't even know what to say anymore. Giving Toews a breakaway, even going to OT on some of these... it is unacceptable. This team and it's poor performance, sooner or later it's going to blow up in their face.

 

[BlueAero]

The frightening part for me if I'm Doug Armstrong heading into the offseason after watching the results mirror 2013 yet having it play out in a different manor is if my team can't out-grind/out physical the Kings and if my team can't out skill the Hawks then what the **** is my team? Basically the answer is that the current makeup of the team isn't good enough to win anything significant

This is the ultimate issue to be addressed. Unless we somehow can find a way to win at the Madhouse on Sunday, this team has once again run down a blind alley....just good enough to contend, not quite good enough to beat the top teams when it counts. How many times have we seen this same scenario throughout the history of the Blues?? Too many to recall (and too painful). Actually, the years that we sucked (plenty of those too) were much easier to tolerate since there were no expectations to begin with.

I truly hope we can find a way to steal a win in game #6 but greatly fear we won't. If not, for the second year in a row, we not only lose in round one but we blow 2-0 series leads both years in the process. I love what Army and Hitch have brought to this team since the not-so-long ago days of Davis Payne but I don't see us getting over the hump with the makeup and style of the current roster. In the meantime, for the umpteenth time since I first tuned in to listen to Dan Kelly and Gus Kyle describe the play of guys like Red Berenson, Gary Sabourin, Al Arbour and Glenn Hall on my little transistor radio when I was 13 years old in 1967, my heart is once again likely to be broken and left wanting for the experience of feeling what it's like to win a Stanley Cup.

 

[ChewiesArmy]

Just saw the replay of the winner. That is absolutely unacceptable. How do you give Jonathan Toews a freaking breakaway in overtime?

It was a flukey play though. Keith was just trying to clear the puck, which happened to bounce off of Shaw's shin, and straight to Toews. One D man happen to be on a change, and sure, the other D shouldn't have let Toews get behind him, or let him have that much room at center.

It's been such an awesome series. I do think that game 6 is a must win game for the Hawks as well as the Blues, obviously. I really think the Blues will take game 7 at home, if they get back, but, I think the Hawks will close it out.

 

[Vladys Gumption]

It was a flukey play though. Keith was just trying to clear the puck, which happened to bounce off of Shaw's shin, and straight to Toews. One D man happen to be on a change, and sure, the other D shouldn't have let Toews get behind him, or let him have that much room at center.

It's been such an awesome series. I do think that game 6 is a must win game for the Hawks as well as the Blues, obviously. I really think the Blues will take game 7 at home, if they get back, but, I think the Hawks will close it out.

Flukey or not, there's no excuse for giving up a breakaway in game 5 of the playoffs in overtime.

 

[Itsnotatrap]

Hawks fan here, I come in peace.

You guys are being very hard on your team. Every game so far in this series could have gone either way. You have a long way to go to reach Cubs like futility, lol.

I am not a recent Cup bandwagon Hawks fan, either. We had decades of futility and an owner who treated the Hawks like NHL's minor leagues, wouldn't televise home games, etc.

A very close series, and not over yet. I understand your level of frustration. The bandwagon Hawks fans do not represent the real fans who were long-suffering and supported a really bad product until the recent successes. Apologies, those bandwagon fans embarrass us too.

Don't give up on your team. They have played us very evenly and nothing to be ashamed of at all.

There are some obnoxious Hawks fans at these games for sure, but there are plenty of idiot Blues fans too.

Saw a middle age woman screaming "WORLD SERIES" repeatedly into some clearly drunk Hawks fan on the way out last night. I've heard all kinds of Cardinals references. I have no idea why anyone would think that would be effective when you are at a freaking playoff hockey game. They might be White Sox fans. They might be Cardinal fans from central Illinois. They might not watch a minute of baseball. Whatever the case, they probably aren't thinking about baseball, when they went down here to watch playoff hockey.

For the love of all that is holy, please stop this, quasi-Blues fans.

 

[TheOrganist]

When Oshie had that 2 on 1, if he would have shot it right away he would have scored. Instead he gave the puck a little tap to control it and it gave Crawford enough time to get over.

I thought so too in real time at the game but watching the replay it was not a very good pass by Schwartz. In his skates and Oshie had to corral it and the ice was deteriorating and it didn't settle. But agree about the larger point of the play. Chicago's worst defenseman made a horrible pinch in the neutral zone and the Blues had a glorious opportunity to make the Hawks pay for a mistake by one of their worst players with one of our best offensive players in control of the puck. Their is no doubt in my mind that if the roles were reversed Chicago's best players would have capitalized. The sequence pretty much embodies why the Blues can't advance against these elite teams.

 

[RR10*]

This team has a lot of problems. Our forwards are overall not skilled and creative enough which hurts our passing through the neutral zone and we have a hard trouble entering the offensive zone. That's also the reason why we dump and chase the puck every ****ing shift, because they can't do anything else. And also, we have ONE natural goal scorer: Tarasenko. We have ZERO natural playmakers. There is no ****ing way you will achieve anything in the playoffs when your team is built this way. Look at our center depth, its a ****ing joke for a contender. Forget about the Bruins comparison, they are deep AND have playmakers and goal scorers.

Our defense is atrocious at defending. I really dont understand why our defense gets a lot of credit throughout the league, I think we let in a few goals because of the playing system and our many two-way forwards. We let other teams cycle and dictate in our own end while we watch passively, we give them too much space and sooner or later it'll cost us. We have one of the leagues worst second pairing defenseman: Jackman. I can't stand this guy, he's awful in his own end and brings nothing offensively. Leopold and Polak are also below average defensemen. I can live with Pietrangelo, Bouwmeester and Shattenkirk, but honestly im not too confident with them either, they play like prima donnas on defense and are not physichal at all which is really worrying in playoffs. Especially Pietrangelo worries me, he gets paid like an elite defenseman but he is far from playing like one. I know he is a fanboy around here but I myself wouldn't mind trading him because I think he can be a problem years to come. Btw Look at LAs second and third pairing defensemen, a bunch of nonamers but they are rock solid on defense and play tough.

Our PP is a total joke. We are the only NHL team that are unable to enter the offensive zone without dumping the puck every ****ing time. I don't know how many times I saw Bouwmeester dump it in when there's no Blues players even close to Chi defenders, and they just clear the puck. Watch how easily other teams enters our zone WITH the puck.

PK is laughable at best. Chicago enter our zone with the puck without much effort, then we back in on Miller and let them do whatever they want with a lot of space while all we do is screen our goalie, and when they score we blame Miller.

This team needs a makeup, not much but something has to change. Hitchcock is wrong for this team, he can be a funny clown somewhere else, we need a coach with attitude who advocates offensive hockey. We have too many gritty players that lacks skill, need to trade and get rid of some and upgrade with playmakers and goal scorers so we have a good mix like Boston.

Get Stastny.
Trade Steen+Berglund for a first liner OR keep Steen and trade Pietrangelo+Berglund for a first liner and a solid second pairing d-man.
Replace Jackman and Leopold.
Role with Allen/Elliot in the net.
Bye Ott, Roy, Miller, Morrow, Berglund, Jackman, Leopold, Colaiacovo.

 

[Vladys Gumption]

Trade Steen+Berglund for a first liner OR keep Steen and trade Pietrangelo+Berglund for a first liner and a solid second pairing d-man.
.

Absolutely laughable. Seriously, thanks for the laugh.

 

[RR10*]

Absolutely laughable. Seriously, thanks for the laugh.

I dont even take you seriously after you questioned me yesterday when I (before the game) were pointing out that Hawks have winners on their team while the Blues have not and that it will cost us the game and the series. Wonder how you feel now

 

[bluesman11]

Although they have an up hill climb, it's not over yet.

I do wish they weren't so banged up, which is a fact even though many are playing. Chicago's team speed and skill is the difference in this series both with their offense and their team defense.

If The Blues were to lose this series I still believe the fact they're heading in the right direction is the big picture view that most rational fans will take from this season.

Holding them to your high standards while ignoring all their bad luck doesn't make sense.

 

[Vladys Gumption]

I dont even take you seriously after you questioned me yesterday when I (before the game) were pointing out that Hawks have winners on their team while the Blues have not and that it will cost us the game and the series. Wonder how you feel now

I feel disappointed that our team lost. You have to be the most pessimistic person here. I choose to be optimistic. I find it quite funny that you ignored my post in which I pointed out that we came back late in games 1 and 2, which shows the winning attitude that you are talking about. You apparently chose not to recognize that. You counting this team out before the series is over is utterly ridiculous, almost as your idea of trading Pietrangelo. What's even more ridiculous is that you are reveling in defeat. That literally makes me laugh.

 

[STL Blues Fan]

Why don't we make good line changes? I mean seriously just 30 seconds into the ot last night the first time we get the puck into Chicago's zone we just skate away for a line change. Then another bad line change on the game winning goal. Finally get the puck into the zone again and guys just skate away from the puck just because they want to get off the ice. They need to better advantage of their opportunities instead of just skating away from the puck. I'll wait to make my decision on this team until after there out of the playoffs so I'm not going to comment on who I want gone yet. And good god put our best players on the top 2 lines. I want to see:
Steen - Backes - Oahe
Schwartz - Bergland - Tarasenko
Roy - Ott - Reaves
Lappiere - Sobotka - Cracknell maybe switch Ott and Sobotka but I think those top 2 lines are important. We need skilled players all around on those lines.

 

[Vladys Gumption]

Why don't we make good line changes? I mean seriously just 30 seconds into the ot last night the first time we get the puck into Chicago's zone we just skate away for a line change. Then another bad line change on the game winning goal. Finally get the puck into the zone again and guys just skate away from the puck just because they want to get off the ice. They need to better advantage of their opportunities instead of just skating away from the puck. I'll wait to make my decision on this team until after there out of the playoffs so I'm not going to comment on who I want gone yet. And good god put our best players on the top 2 lines. I want to see:
Steen - Backes - Oahe
Schwartz - Bergland - Tarasenko
Roy - Ott - Reaves
Lappiere - Sobotka - Cracknell maybe switch Ott and Sobotka but I think those top 2 lines are important. We need skilled players all around on those lines.

Sobotka should be nowhere near the fourth line Ideally he's a third line center, but behind Backes he's our best center right now. Plus we know he can be effective between Schwartz and Tarasenko.

 

[GrandPapillon*]

Although they have an up hill climb, it's not over yet.

I do wish they weren't so banged up, which is a fact even though many are playing. Chicago's team speed and skill is the difference in this series both with their offense and their team defense.

If The Blues were to lose this series I still believe the fact they're heading in the right direction is the big picture view that most rational fans will take from this season.

Holding them to your high standards while ignoring all their bad luck doesn't make sense.

Hahahahahahahah. Nope
The Blues won a playoff series 2 years ago. They haven't done so in the past 2 seasons. That's not a step forward. This isn't like when the Blues got swept out by the Canucks during Andy Murray's regime where at least our players learned what the playoffs were like for the first time. Nothing was gained from this experience. The team has experienced what it is to lose in the playoffs already, and hasn't adjusted to keep that from happening again. Outside of Tarasenko and Schwartz, no Blues player learned how to take their games up a level. All this year has shown is

1) It isn't just a Kings curse. For all of the talk that the Kings just had our number the last few years, this shows that there are other teams in the West who are built for better playoff success than the Blues.

2) The window to succeed is closing. The Blues brought that window closer to closing by giving away draft picks for guys that haven't been difference makers. Look at the drastic turnaround that teams like Colorado were able to make. The Blues actually drew closer to irrelevant to contender this season

 

[RR10*]

I feel disappointed that our team lost. You have to be the most pessimistic person here. I choose to be optimistic. I find it quite funny that you ignored my post in which I pointed out that we came back late in games 1 and 2, which shows the winning attitude that you are talking about. You apparently chose not to recognize that. You counting this team out before the series is over is utterly ridiculous, almost as your idea of trading Pietrangelo.

We were lucky to come back in those games, especially the 2nd game in the end when Chi had total control and Seabrook hands it to us but we still played awful and got lucky tying it with 6 seconds left. Exceptions will always happen anyway so I dont get your point bringing those games up where we were lucky it wasnt a 1-1 series. Even up 2-0 I thought we would lose this series.

I dont mind trading Pietrangelo at all. He's too soft and not the typical winner/leader on the ice. He gets paid like an elite defenseman and if he isn't going to play like one, the Blues will have a problem years to come. I'll say trade him when he still got some value. Shattenkirk is basically the exact same player, they play very similar and have same weakness, but he's cheaper and has less value in a trade. Pie, Bouw and Shatty are one too much, if they were great I'd be totally fine with them, but they have just been average in the playoffs.

 

[STL Blues Fan]

Berglund could do well always looking for the pass like he does and Frank and Schwartz can shoot. We have no results so far and Berglund does better with more skilled players and I don't think it affects Sobotka either way. And where only winning about 30% of face offs anyway. Hitch has tried tons of bad line combos. Why not some good ones for a change. I'm tired of him playing favorites.

 

[bluesman11]

Hahahahahahahah. Nope
The Blues won a playoff series 2 years ago. They haven't done so in the past 2 seasons. That's not a step forward. This isn't like when the Blues got swept out by the Canucks during Andy Murray's regime where at least our players learned what the playoffs were like for the first time. Nothing was gained from this experience. The team has experienced what it is to lose in the playoffs already, and hasn't adjusted to keep that from happening again. Outside of Tarasenko and Schwartz, no Blues player learned how to take their games up a level. All this year has shown is

1) It isn't just a Kings curse. For all of the talk that the Kings just had our number the last few years, this shows that there are other teams in the West who are built for better playoff success than the Blues.

2) The window to succeed is closing. The Blues brought that window closer to closing by giving away draft picks for guys that haven't been difference makers. Look at the drastic turnaround that teams like Colorado were able to make. The Blues actually drew closer to irrelevant to contender this season

Sorry don't agree and you doing exactly what I'm talking about, your standard is the only one that matters to yourself and you aren't being honest about their bad luck and you're totally discounting The Hawks.