So we beat Washington, Nashville, SJ x2, Tampa in the past (15? games) and we can't compete with the best..? Lol, please tell me you're kidding. It was a one goal game with a rival team, quit crying.
What, am I not allowed to vent frustration about getting beat by the team that ended our season last year?
The Blackhawks are the best team in the NHL, period. And if the Blues plan on making it out of April, they will most likely have to go through Chicago.
What is the most frustrating thing about the Blues against the Hawks is the only way they can win is by catching the Hawks on an off night or by playing perfect, mistake free hockey. If this team has proven anything, is that right now, they are not capable of playing mistake free hockey.
I've been saying it all year, that the skill and SUCCESS of Frank and Schwartz has messed up this teams identity. They are stuck in between play hard nose "Blues" hockey(Hitchs words, not mine) and frankly, Pond hockey. They've proven that on any given night they can play with anyone, but I don't think they have proven they can win when they have too. Granted yesterday was a day game, and 7th game in 4 days, so there was fatigue. The winning streak was nice to see, but they beat a few good teams in overtime and bottom dwellers. It's not like they played 13 straight games against playoff bound opponents, which the Blues are barely over .500. That worries me.
I have given up any hope that the Blues will EVER ice their full squad, it just doesn't happen, ever. We will have some catastrophic injury right before the playoffs because we are the Blues and we can't have anything nice. So the constant excuse that injuries are why we lose, is tiresome. ALL teams face piles of injuries, it's a collision sport they happen. The Blues have to find ways to play through them and frankly it's a tired and easy excuse. If we were CBJ and had their string of injuries then sure we could use that as an excuse, but guess what they just gave the Blues a 7-1 beatdown. Laying this loss because we are missing Kirk, who most wanted to trade after his terrible playoffs against this same team and Lehtera who is fighting the grind of an NHL season for the 1st time is a losers mentality. Which abdicates responsibility of those who aren't hurt.
The Blues have real trouble against teams that can move the puck out of the D zone with 2 touches, which is what makes the Hawks so successful in the 1st place. The fact the Hitch can't draw up a game plan that put immediate pressure on the third man high in the slot in the D zone during a breakout is worrisome. It's not like this is some new tatic the Hawks all of the sudden started employing, they've been doing it for years and yet no adjustment has ever been made. It's like clockwork, the puck gets deep, the Blues put one man in on the puck carrier and with 2 passes, it's out of pressure and past the redline. It's maddening. If I can see it on TV, the people getting paid surely notice it, at least I hope they do. The blues need to put one man on the puck carrier and one man on the 3rd high man in the slot, thus taking away their easy outs and force a few turnovers.
I don't expect the Blues Togo 82-0, but I would expect that the team that ended their season would have a little tougher time ON THE ROAD. But I digress, they will continue to beat crap teams, win 55% of their games against playoff bound teams with the shootout and I guess I have to accept that this is all this team is capable of. I guess that's the life of a Blues fan.