The St. Louis Blues...look bad

[S E P H]

It makes no sense how the Blues didn't go harder after Grubauer. I am not saying he's a perfect goaler, but him challenging Jake Allen as the number one who make it into a fantastic competitive duo potentially rising each other's game. That's what happened thus far in Colorado with Varlamov and Grubauer, Varly has been lights out and that's because he knows there is a goaler who has the talent to overtake him. The same could've been said for Allen and he faltered as we're seeing now, Grubauer would be guiding the Blues to a much better record than the one they have currently.

 

[Dbrownss]

One freaking game. They just about won last night vs WPG, arguably a better team than TOR last night.

Hey, that's all I meant was he is not the only problem. No doubt the Blues played better in that one game without him. But the team stats weren't anything to blow your socks off. TOR was straight BAD in that game. They really were terrible. Blues dominated them as much as they lost that game themselves.

I am not saying JBo should be in every game and get top-line minutes. I feel like he can still play and he's not the worst player ever. He should however get a LOT less minutes, play on no special teams and not even touch the 1st or 2nd D-pairs. His experience and knowledge is valuable though. I agree he's just about done in this league. I just don't put EVERYTHING on him. Schwartz got worked over in OT in the corner that directly led to the Blues losing, lots of guys took dumb penalties last night, Allen was his below-average self and the gameplan wasn't working. Can't blame JBo for everything.

I put that OT lose more on Schenn then Schwartz losing the puck. Schenn blew his coverage....again

 

[Koonta]

I still think the Blues are a very good team. They played really well the first 2 periods against my Jets. I do think Allen is a horrible goalie and Yeo is not a very good coach. They have a bunch of great players and ROR was a great addition. I believe Allen will however sink them a lot of nights though and that to me is their biggest problem.

 

[topshelf15]

The arent bad.... Their goaltender is far far to hit or miss,and its bringing them down

 

[TK 421]

One freaking game. They just about won last night vs WPG, arguably a better team than TOR last night.

Hey, that's all I meant was he is not the only problem. No doubt the Blues played better in that one game without him. But the team stats weren't anything to blow your socks off. TOR was straight BAD in that game. They really were terrible. Blues dominated them as much as they lost that game themselves.

I am not saying JBo should be in every game and get top-line minutes. I feel like he can still play and he's not the worst player ever. He should however get a LOT less minutes, play on no special teams and not even touch the 1st or 2nd D-pairs. His experience and knowledge is valuable though. I agree he's just about done in this league. I just don't put EVERYTHING on him. Schwartz got worked over in OT in the corner that directly led to the Blues losing, lots of guys took dumb penalties last night, Allen was his below-average self and the gameplan wasn't working. Can't blame JBo for everything.

I think we're generally in agreement then that the Blues face multiple issues.

Bouwmeester simply can't play at this level anymore even in a limited capacity and based on what you've said I see we disagree here. Limited minutes will still be exposed by teams with strong forward depth and Yeo can't seem to control himself in terms of managing Jay's ice time correctly.

Last night was a perfect case in point of Yeo leaning heavily on Jay to the point of detriment in a game where doing so immediately gave the Jets life and a clear target to attack. Putting Jay out that much also has the disadvantage of giving Dunn and his high tempo offensive game less minutes and downgrading the ability to attack. It's a drastic shift in quality of player to swap Dunn out for Jay and stylistically makes it easier to attack the Blues. And all that because Yeo panicked after 2 mistakes by Dunn towards the end of the 2nd period. That's on Yeo, Jay is just trying to play hockey (I can only assume he's trying but honestly it's hard to tell) and shouldn't be faulted for sucking.

I'm no fan of Jake Allen at all but he got screwed twice last night (once on the OT goal) and another when Jay let his assignment go. Both goals were easy tap ins that never would have happened with smarter decisions by the D.

So no it isn't all Allen, it isn't all Jay, isn't all Yeo, the other players making key mistakes, etc....it's all of it put together. All they can do is address the issues to the extent they can in season. Benching Bouwmeester is imo an obvious easy move to make towards that end.

 

[Fire Benning]

I don't see how they can't think to make a change in goal. They seemed to be willing to really go for it instead of being just a bubble team and Allen is holding them back.

 

[Dbrownss]

I don't see how they can't think to make a change in goal. They seemed to be willing to really go for it instead of being just a bubble team and Allen is holding them back.

No options, and the team turns into peanut butter going into the 3rd.

 

[Tryblot]

I keep seeing "That goal wasn't Jake Allens fault". For one of two goals fine but when we're seeing it 4-5 times a game it gets a little ridiculous.

 

[Stealth JD]

I keep seeing "That goal wasn't Jake Allens fault". For one of two goals fine but when we're seeing it 4-5 times a game it gets a little ridiculous.

If it’s not Jake’s fault and he’s still not playing well enough to win, that says it all. It’s one thing if Jake is imploding and the Blues are losing close games. But they’re not and he generally hasn’t. He’s just getting flat out beaten and looking like the Jake Allen we’ve come to expect - a below average goalie who doesn’t make enough saves to be a positive difference maker. I’d actually feel a little better about things if he were fighting it, but he’s playing about as well as can be hoped, and the Blues are simply getting out-scored. Not encouraging.

 

[mattydamon]

Boggles my mind that STL still has Jake Allen starting for them, like what the f*** did you expect to happen? How many years in a row?

I think they did great work in the offseason and I really like their young guys, you'd think they'd address the damn goaltending seeing as they clearly are pushing for the playoffs this year.

 

[Dbrownss]

I keep seeing "That goal wasn't Jake Allens fault". For one of two goals fine but when we're seeing it 4-5 times a game it gets a little ridiculous.

1 out of 4 last night, that's the number of goals I'd pin on Allen. The rest are just rediculous defensive breakdowns. The overtime goal was a more blatant example of the Blues defense. They did really well until the 3rd

 

[rynryn]

All of these early takes make me want to start a Wild one.

The Minnesota Wild...Look meh


Blues have been streaky for years. They're going to go on a streak at some point this season where they look unbeatable.

 

[Leaf Fans]

They looked good against us!

 

[JetsWillFly4Ever]

Looked real good against us for about a period and a half last night.

ROR is a beast, what a steal that trade was, and to agree with everyone - Jake Allen blows.

 

[Tryblot]

1 out of 4 last night, that's the number of goals I'd pin on Allen. The rest are just rediculous defensive breakdowns. The overtime goal was a more blatant example of the Blues defense. They did really well until the 3rd

That's my point though. If you want to say one or two games where "Those goals weren't Allens fault" then fine, but pretty much every night I read that same thing. When he's consistently letting in 3-5 goals against a game then when do people start to realize he's just not a NHL goaltender? His job is to make those saves, regardless of difficulty and he's not doing what he gets paid to do.

 

[LongWayDown37]

So how many times has O’Reilly said “I’ve got to be better” in his post game comments so far?

- Sabre Fans

 

[Dbrownss]

That's my point though. If you want to say one or two games where "Those goals weren't Allens fault" then fine, but pretty much every night I read that same thing. When he's consistently letting in 3-5 goals against a game then when do people start to realize he's just not a NHL goaltender? His job is to make those saves, regardless of difficulty and he's not doing what he gets paid to do.

It's a unique situation though. The Blues defense are uncharacteristically bad this year and they are giving other teams A+++ opportunities. Allen made several high end saves against the jets that I feel have gone unnoticed, due to the GA. For example in overtime. Blues defense broke down and the Jets had a dangerous chance right down the slot. Allen made the save then shortly after Schenn decided to ignore his guy and go double cover Connor....and game. While Allen has not won the Blues a game...and your right that's his job, I don't think he's lost them a game either.

He's just not one of my top concerns for whatever this team is this year...he's there, but just down the list

 

[Uncle Scrooge]

For what it's worth i find lots of similarities between the Blues and Preds 16/17 start to the season lately on my betting system. Doesn't mean anything in terms of what the Blues will do in the 2nd half but i don't think there's time to panic. It's a good team that's just a bit off right now.

After blowing out the Avs 5-1 (Blues 4-1 vs Tor), the Preds managed to blow a lead against the Coyotes of all teams. Then again vs the Canes after that. Afterwards they showed their true colors beating 3 playoff teams (Ott, Stl, Ana) in a row on that homestand. Funny enough the Blues go home now as well so we'll see if there's similar things to come from them.

 

[Tage2Tuch]

Ryan O'Reilly is a real bright spot though......so we have that going for us. Also we got the Vegas Golden Knight's version of Perron...and the trade "throw in" Sanford actually looks like a player.


Yea....things arent that bad...

RORs teams never win though. Guy is off to an insanely hot start offensively. I kind of feel bad for him though. He’s clesrly an incredible player just had bad luck where he goes. The blues will turn this around maybe a coaching change and a slogan “yeo has to go”

 

[Dbrownss]

RORs teams never win though. Guy is off to an insanely hot start offensively. I kind of feel bad for him though. He’s clesrly an incredible player just had bad luck where he goes. The blues will turn this around maybe a coaching change and a slogan “yeo has to go”

Yea, he has bad luck in that sense. He's doing his job though.

 

[Sakujo]

any team with jake f***ing allen as their starter is gonna struggle. I cannot believe armstrong didn't do something last off-season after allen's abysmal season.

 

[Tryblot]

It's a unique situation though. The Blues defense are uncharacteristically bad this year and they are giving other teams A+++ opportunities. Allen made several high end saves against the jets that I feel have gone unnoticed, due to the GA. For example in overtime. Blues defense broke down and the Jets had a dangerous chance right down the slot. Allen made the save then shortly after Schenn decided to ignore his guy and go double cover Connor....and game. While Allen has not won the Blues a game...and your right that's his job, I don't think he's lost them a game either.

He's just not one of my top concerns for whatever this team is this year...he's there, but just down the list

I disagree. One of the Chicago games the Blues had a 2-0 lead and then Allen proceeded to let in a bad goal to make the game 2-1. Pietrangelo was there and maybe should have tied Toews up better but it was like Allen moved out of the way. I would say he let the Hawks back in that game. Montreal game started bad by Jake letting in a terribly weak goal to start the game on Domi. I would say that game is on him as well. Two goals in a couple minutes to start the third in the last game are on Jake as well. One was a floater from the blue line. It's clear the team has confidence issues right now and that can't go in at the moment. I put those games on him regardless of the chances given up because of the fact Jake let in bad goals at inopportune times.

 

[Kevs Security]

I didn't like Yeo's bald head back in Minnesota, and I don't like his bald head now. Fire him.

 

[Dbrownss]

I disagree. One of the Chicago games the Blues had a 2-0 lead and then Allen proceeded to let in a bad goal to make the game 2-1. Pietrangelo was there and maybe should have tied Toews up better but it was like Allen moved out of the way. I would say he let the Hawks back in that game. Montreal game started bad by Jake letting in a terribly weak goal to start the game on Domi. I would say that game is on him as well. Two goals in a couple minutes to start the third in the last game are on Jake as well. One was a floater from the blue line. It's clear the team has confidence issues right now and that can't go in at the moment. I put those games on him regardless of the chances given up because of the fact Jake let in bad goals at inopportune times.

The Toews goal was bad, and so was the Domi goal, but that Montreal game is soley on 55. The Jets game, he made enough saves to keep them in that game.

 

[KingBran]

Lost. 7-4 to CBJ at home.

I know CBJ is no slouch but the Blues looked so bad. Good god man.