Pre-Game Talk: Predators vs Blues

[Note Worthy]

I don't think the Preds should be favorites in this series, especially without home ice.

Allen is a game breaker, much like Rinne can be. Tarasenko is magic to watch and it's going to take more than just 1 defenseman to shut him down. Perron is a Preds killer as is Steen.

Reaves is going to put a body on everyone and it will be up to Watson to lead the Preds in the physicality department.

St. Louis appears to struggle in the FO dot looking at raw numbers and that was a strength for Nashville against Chicago so if that carries over to this series that could be an issue that STL would need to overcome to advance.

Either way, I'm glad we are finally meeting in the playoffs. We've both been around too long for this to be the first meeting! I'll say this goes in to double OT in game 7. I'll call Steen for STL or Wilson for NSH with the series winner.

Good luck guys!

This was true for almost all of the Minnesota series but with Stastny back our FO numbers should be better this series.

 

[Stopsight]

Hamm is one of the few high profile Blues fans out there, i should hope he predicts they win

 

[thedustman]

i hope letters plays like he did against minnesota... if he does, then I'm fine with hime being in the lineup. But barbashev comes in if anything goes wrong.

I really like the chemistry that Sobotka and Lehtera have.

Also, I am loving how we are are being looked as the Prey vs. the Predators in this series. Here's to Allen continuing his fine form, Stastny playing, Sobotka coming back at the best time, and everything else Blues.

 

[TheDizee]

i just saw nhl network predictions. i think one out of like 20 people picked the blues. people really hyping up the preds.....

i really prefer being the underdogs and i hope the team keeps responding to being one.

 

[TK 421]

The thought of Lehtera playing again makes me physically ill. I'm no expert on Finnish, but I have a growing suspicion that his name means turtle. I could be off here but he really seems to throw any line he's on into a disjointed mess as a trio. Maybe I'm being too harsh but his snail speed is magnified to me here in the PO's where the pace is crazy. I'm not saying we should put Curtis Redfort in but get Barabashev back in as a winger at least instead of Lehtera.

 

[Shwabeal]

The thought of Lehtera playing again makes me physically ill. I'm no expert on Finnish, but I have a growing suspicion that his name means turtle. I could be off here but he really seems to throw any line he's on into a disjointed mess as a trio. Maybe I'm being too harsh but his snail speed is magnified to me here in the PO's where the pace is crazy. I'm not saying we should put Curtis Redfort in but get Barabashev back in as a winger at least instead of Lehtera.

I would agree about putting Barbashev in over Lehtera but he isn't AS bad as people make him out to be. I'm a huge Lehtera basher, I think he is absolutely horrendous given what we pay him, but he is a pretty serviceable player, especially in the playoffs where he has experience. Oddly, I think he works on that line more than Barbashev would and I'm on high on Barbie. I just think the Sobotka-Lehtera-Chef PRV offers quite a bit in a playoff series. That line can be given some tough defensive assignments and hold their own (not that I think they are great doing it), enough to relieve the Steen-Berglund-Perron line from maybe 2:30 of those assignments to open that line up to do something offensively, which I think this team needs badly if they want to win a series. Put Barbashev in for Lehtera and I think Yeo is a little more hesitant to put that line over the boards for a defensive draw against Forsberg-Johansen-Arvidsson.

In all, I think Barbashev brings quite bit more to the team, but the way I predict Yeo trying to utilize that line in the series, I think Lehtera is a better option in the here and now. Next playoffs (when I envision Lehtera is long gone from this roster), I think Barbashev would be the better option but right now, I'm fine with Lehtera being in there. I mean, we have to get SOME value from that contract this year, right...?

 

[Carolinas Identity*]

Internet is down can't post

 

[TheBluePenguin]

Less than 12 hours till game time Going to be a fun series and I have no idea who should or could or will win, time to down some caffeine pills

 

[BleedBlue14]

I'm picking up tickets for game 1 tonight. This will be my first playoff game. How different from regular season will it be?

Go early the pre game stuff that they put on the jumbotron and on the ice is actually sick to watch along with it being electric in there

 

[HockeyGuy73]

Allen has to stay hot. PP has to get a pulse. Our star players have to outplay their star players. If that happens, we can win this thing.

Or, to make it even more simple. If we score more than them in 4 of the next 7 games, we got it.

 

[wannabebluesplayer]

I hope the referees and NHL starts paying more attention to Arvidsson and his diving. That actually worries me with this reputation that the Blues "goon" or "muck" it up. I could see Edmundson taking a very weak penalty because of this.

 

[Twisted Blue]

Internet is down can't post

Interesting, it's working in St. Louis

 

[Chubbinz]

Well it was nice discussing the series with you guys before we were swept by a far superior team tonight.

 

[Scoresberg]

Good luck guys, should be a good one.

 

[LightningStrikes]

Gooo Blues!

 

[High n Wide]

Hopefully I'll be around to post more (any) in this series, but I'm really excited for this one. Should be a good match up and I'm looking forward to seeing a new team in the playoffs.

I hope the Blues play a bit more aggressive, but if we can manage it I'm fine riding Allen hot play with some opportunistic goals through the playoffs.

 

[Oogie Boogie]

should be a good one.

Only if you lose

 

[Brian39]

Well game two of Preds hawks in the books. Didn't watch this game as closely admittedly. It wasn't a close one with a 5-0 score line.

I don't know who said the Preds dominated the hawks. Or that they just handed them their ass. But that's the impression I've gotten as an outsider. That Nashville just ran the hawks into the dirt. I found this to be quite the contrary actually. The hawks once again dominated possession. However scoring chances likely about equal. 90% of Nashvilles chances were on fast breaks. Their goals were all on counter attacks. Never from sustained possession.

The hawks screwed the pooch on this one. They blew defensive assignments left and right. Crawford was atrocious. Hawks team defense was abysmal. Beginning to feel like the predators didn't win this as much as the hawks handed to them.

I wish I had the time (and spousal patience) to be able to watch full replays of that series in between rounds. Thanks for posting your impressions. I only got to watch about a total of abut 100 minutes of that series, but my impression was similar to yours. It reminded me a lot of our series, but Crawford played noticeably worse than Dubnyk did.

With that said, the Preds showed me a lot in the 3rd period of game 3. Chicago was rolling and everyone in that building knew how dangerous that core is when their backs are against the wall. Nashville got a lucky bounce on the 1st goal, but they just dominated that period to tie it up.

 

[Bye Felicia]

Good luck guys, should be a good one.

10/10 username

 

[TheBluePenguin]

Only if you lose

Oogie talking the smack !!!! I had nothing to do at work for a few seconds at work and made this

 

[AaronMK]

I think this series is fully dependent on how the Preds play. If they want to try a possession style game then I think that will cause the most trouble for the Blues. The Blues were able to take the speed out of Minnesota's game and kept them to the outside which will be the same thing they'll do to the Preds if they try to counter-attack and play with a lot of speed like they did against the Hawks.

 

[KingBran]

Only if you lose

 

[MissouriMook]

I would really like to see us modify our stretch pass philosophy and start making them when the opponent's forecheckers are still deep. In the Wild series, we generally waited until most of the pressure had retreated and we were trying to hit a stationary teammate in the neutral zone. This had one of three predictable outcomes.

1. A missed pass resulting in an icing.
2. A tipped pass resulting in an exceptionally long dump in (often followed by a change and no pressure).
3. A connected pass to a teammate and immediately contested possession because they had a backchecker on top of them.

I want to see a few more breakouts where we have a forward getting behind the pressure and connecting with a winger headed up ice or at least a situation where Rinne is forced to leave the crease and play the puck (negating the icing) with pressure instead of being able to set up a breakout.

 

[AjaxManifesto]

Will they come out flat or flying. The 1st period will tell us a lot.

And as to Lahtera, he's not a liability and he's a veteran player. I have no problem with him. Barbie will be in soon and Lahtera will get some rest. It's all good.

 

[Brian39]

I would really like to see us modify our stretch pass philosophy and start making them when the opponent's forecheckers are still deep. In the Wild series, we generally waited until most of the pressure had retreated and we were trying to hit a stationary teammate in the neutral zone. This had one of three predictable outcomes.

1. A missed pass resulting in an icing.
2. A tipped pass resulting in an exceptionally long dump in (often followed by a change and no pressure).
3. A connected pass to a teammate and immediately contested possession because they had a backchecker on top of them.

I want to see a few more breakouts where we have a forward getting behind the pressure and connecting with a winger headed up ice or at least a situation where Rinne is forced to leave the crease and play the puck (negating the icing) with pressure instead of being able to set up a breakout.

I completely agree. Trying for a stretch pass after sitting behind the goal for several seconds has almost zero chance of working.

I also want to see us force Rinne to play the puck as much as possible. He isn't the worst puckhandling goalie out there, but I'd rather see him handling pucks than their D. He is erratic with the puck and doesn't have the puckhandling strength to overcome bad decisions. The more he leaves the net the better it is for the Blues IMO.