GDT: WCQF Game 4: Jets @ Blues l 8:30pm CT (FSMW, CNBC) l Home Team Has to Win Eventually...Right?

[TheDizee]

Petro played like absolute trash last night. It's crazy how a guy who is our captain is so good at abandoning his post. He has very little interest in getting back on defense. Of course the play on the Scheifele goal will be talked about. But at one point, Robert Thomas was our last line of defense because Petro pinched in. We're playing a team who is great at getting behind Ds, and our franchise defenseman is leaving our 19 year old rookie to be the safety net because he's always got tunnel vision up ice. And during one of their rushes after they scored, he looked like a lost little kid in a grocery store. A couple of our guys are desperately trying to get a clear, and our captain and longest-tenured Blues player is looking like a wide-eyed rookie who doesn't know what his assignment is. I've always wanted Petro to retire a Blue, but lately I've been more open than ever to moving on from him as a captain and as a player. If he stopped thinking he was a forward and remember he is actually a very good defenseman, we'd have a much better shot in this series.

I wanna get one thing outta the way before I make this post. I dont hate 27. I think hes a good player when hes right but he will NEVER and I mean NEVER be a good leader. The guy just doesnt have it in his bones. And there are too many people like him on this team, people like Schwartz fit this mold too. I am not even gonna get started on Schwartz, his one idiotic play that led to a WPG breakaway was pretty self-evident how bad he is this year.

Another poster and I in this thread about 5 minutes beforethe WPG 1st goal called out 27 for joining the rush recklessly on a play where Thomas had the break on a 3 or 4 on 2. It was totally unnecessary in a game where you have a lead and was incredibly reckless. Ofcourse, the play didnt even lead to a quality shot but it did lead to a 2on1 for WPG where JB had to make a fantastic save.

That is what I call stupid hockey. The guy either has extremely low hockey IQ or what I think is happening is that he is simply trying to do TOO MUCH.

But he didnt learn his lesson there, he follows it up by going for a check, whiffing completely and was the last Blue to come back into the zone as WPG tied the game on a play that he would have EASILY prevented had he manned his position and did his job. I guess thats why he never hits and gets labeled as a Creampuff because he is a joke at it and whiffs.

Then you see this "leader" in the post game. He says he wants to "steal" game 5. That is implying the team once again plays like trash and doesnt deserve to win. A real leader would wanna go out there and bust their asses and EARN a win by OUTPLAYING the jets severely like they just had done to them. The Blues desperately need the 2016 Petro vs Hawks to show up. They WILL NOT win this series if he does not raise the level of his play and slow down the Jets top line because having the top 2 lines be total dog shit is bad enough.

 

[KingBran]

I hope the home teams lose every game this series.

 

[ScratchCatFever]

I just finished watching the game after working all night. I am a little worried but I am not going all chicken little like some in this thread. I am worried because right now the Jets seems like they are playing at a level above us. However, you have to remember that both teams were playing well below what they are capable of the first two games and the Blues were able to squeak out close victories. Then you move on to Game 3 and the Jets elevated their game to their current level and I believe they are now playing their best hockey. The Blues haven't yet played their best hockey, they have another level, we have all seen it.

Now this still leaves some questions. Will the Blues be able to get to that level before their backs are up against the wall? I believe they will, it took the Jets two home losses to elevate and I feel like the Blues will be the same, now they have to play with desperation. Is the Blues playing at their best capable of beating the Jets playing at their best? I believe they are because of one significant advantage we have, Jordan Binnington. If the Blues can give Jordan the support he needs we can still win this series. I still believe in this team and you know why? They weren't even supposed to be here, they were left for dead at the start of the new year. Posters all over this forum, myself included, were looking at potential Tarasenko and Pietrangelo trades. My prediction before the series started was Blues in 6 and I am sticking with it. The Jets are a good team, this was never going to be easy.

I want to share your enthusiasm and am in complete agreement that if we can give Binny the support he deserves that this is still a winnable series. We just looked completely gassed the last period and half, in particular the 3rd, and the Jets we're flying up and down the ice. Our lack of overall team speed has been an issue for years now doesn't look to be resolved any time soon.

 

[RaleighBlues]

I’m not conceding the series. Obviously it’s not over tied 2-2. My concern is we’re watching a Blues team that amassed their points through tenacity, outworking the other team, skating hard for 60 mins — and they’re getting dominated in every area except for goaltending.

Unless they all of a sudden have fresh legs again, I’m skeptical that the results change at all. Hope I’m wrong. Blues just look spent. Out of gas.

 

[sfvega]

I want to share your enthusiasm and am in complete agreement that if we can give Binny the support he deserves that this is still a winnable series. We just looked completely gassed the last period and half, in particular the 3rd, and the Jets we're flying up and down the ice. Our lack of overall team speed has been an issue for years now doesn't look to be resolved any time soon.

We definitely could use some more speed. But the puck will always be the fastest thing on the ice. It is tough to defend good, organized passing even if it's a team of Alex Steens. Our passing last night was abysmal. Getting it out of the D zone, the neutral zone, O zone, PP. We can beat Winnipeg if we cycle well, hustle, forecheck. Our team just didn't show up. Outside of our goalie, Parayko making 1000 perfect litte plays, and Vlad with a world class shot, there wasn't much to notice out there...

 

[inthe6ix]

Petro played like absolute trash last night. It's crazy how a guy who is our captain is so good at abandoning his post. He has very little interest in getting back on defense. Of course the play on the Scheifele goal will be talked about. But at one point, Robert Thomas was our last line of defense because Petro pinched in. We're playing a team who is great at getting behind Ds, and our franchise defenseman is leaving our 19 year old rookie to be the safety net because he's always got tunnel vision up ice. And during one of their rushes after they scored, he looked like a lost little kid in a grocery store. A couple of our guys are desperately trying to get a clear, and our captain and longest-tenured Blues player is looking like a wide-eyed rookie who doesn't know what his assignment is. I've always wanted Petro to retire a Blue, but lately I've been more open than ever to moving on from him as a captain and as a player. If he stopped thinking he was a forward and remember he is actually a very good defenseman, we'd have a much better shot in this series.

Ok so that was Petro who tried to throw a centre ice hit at Wheeler which resulted in the Scheifele tip to tie it up - was wondering who that was trying to do a Scott Stevens impression but failing badly. Not sure why the hate on him on PP1 though - he made a great pass to setup Tank for that 1-0 goal; Dunn is good, but Petro is more than capable of running that unit. A disappointing homestand nonethleess, but it is still 2-2 with a best 2 out of 3 left; there's no reason why you can't beat them again and then get another shot at closing it out at home.

Good luck!

 

[TheDizee]

Ok so that was Petro who tried to throw a centre ice hit at Wheeler which resulted in the Scheifele tip to tie it up - was wondering who that was trying to do a Scott Stevens impression but failing badly. Not sure why the hate on him on PP1 though - he made a great pass to setup Tank for that 1-0 goal; Dunn is good, but Petro is more than capable of running that unit. A disappointing homestand nonethleess, but it is still 2-2 with a best 2 out of 3 left; there's no reason why you can't beat them again and then get another shot at closing it out at home.

Good luck!

how did he make a great pass to 91? he makes that same pass like 30 times a PP. 91 is literally like 10 feet away from him on his left EVERY PP

Its one of the reasons the PP sucks, its predictable and hardly any puck movement or people shifting around.

 

[ManyIdeas]

does ror have a concussion?

 

[Blanick]

I want to share your enthusiasm and am in complete agreement that if we can give Binny the support he deserves that this is still a winnable series. We just looked completely gassed the last period and half, in particular the 3rd, and the Jets we're flying up and down the ice. Our lack of overall team speed has been an issue for years now doesn't look to be resolved any time soon.

Our speed while not at the level of the Jets isn't that bad, I would actually put it at average. Plus there is a big difference between playing with speed and being a fast skating team. The last two the games the Blues have not helped themselves to play with speed. There are two big issues that need to be addressed. They need to make quicker decisions with the puck, too often a Blues player is finding their puck on the stick and taking to long to do something with it. This is allowing the Jets to close the lanes and collapse on the Blues player. This is a huge part of what is leading to failed breakouts and extended zone time for the Jets.

The second thing is the Blues need to take the ice that is given to them. This particularly falls on the defense but some offensive players have been guilty as well. If you have open ice going north then you need to take it. I feel like the Blues are trying to speed through zone too much with these long stretch passes and east-west play through the neutral zone. Take the ice that is in front of you, get the lines, get the puck in deep and work the forecheck. It is a simple formula that led to an 11 games win streak and our second half resurgence. It is all about execution.

 

[sfvega]

Ok so that was Petro who tried to throw a centre ice hit at Wheeler which resulted in the Scheifele tip to tie it up - was wondering who that was trying to do a Scott Stevens impression but failing badly. Not sure why the hate on him on PP1 though - he made a great pass to setup Tank for that 1-0 goal; Dunn is good, but Petro is more than capable of running that unit. A disappointing homestand nonethleess, but it is still 2-2 with a best 2 out of 3 left; there's no reason why you can't beat them again and then get another shot at closing it out at home.

Good luck!

Good luck to you guys, too. That series has been brutal. Marner has looked incredible.

 

[Foomp Dugan]

The “steal” a game comment speaks volumes. Clearly he doesn’t have the confidence in this team to win on talent alone.

As I saw on another forum, Petro wants to win, but not if it includes confronting or standing up to the other teams players. His whole body language screams that.

I mentioned not re-signing petro in the Brayden Schenn thread and got totally flamed for it. I was told that if we didn’t have Pietrangelo, that our teams defense would completely fall apart. (because there’s no way we could possibly use that money on another defenseman, right?) As I recall, we played pretty well when the he was injured earlier this season.

He is the epitome of the overrated player this organization thrives on. The face of mediocrity.

But by all means let’s sign this guy to a long-term high dollar contract into his waning years. Makes perfect sense. Because you know Army will want to keep the C on him, and give him another no trade clause.

 

[izzy]

You’re totally trolling lol, you want to make fun of fans who thought the Blues were going to miss the playoffs?? You would have to make fun of almost anyone paying attention to the Blues the first half of the season.

You don’t think this game has huge implications on determining the outcome of the series??? Really??

no shit, but if the team rolled over like a bunch of crybabies (half these posters) in a tie series then it definitely would be over

 

[LBlues24]

Coming into this series I really believed that Binnington was going to single handedly win a game for us in this series, while Vladdy would win it in another. I fear both of those got squandered last night. Winnipeg was the last team I wanted to see in the first round, but what can you do.

However after an incredibly frustrating ‘sleep’, I still woke up with some hope. Let’s take game 5 and go from there.

 

[ZigZagBluesFan]

Moved to a more appropriate thread.

 

[Benjamin Doveridge]

The “steal” a game comment speaks volumes. Clearly he doesn’t have the confidence in this team to win on talent alone.

When Petro said “steal” a game he simply meant going into Jets home turf and coming out with a win.

 

[Foomp Dugan]

When Petro said “steal” a game he simply meant going into Jets home turf and coming out with a win.

It seems to me a captain should show more confidence in his team to the point of saying, “ We need to go in there and TAKE the next game.”

As opposed to his “Gee guys” attitude.

 

[EastonBlues22]

Reading this thread is honestly worse than watching the game, and I don't think it's particularly close. What a tire fire. I hope the venting at least helped to blow off some of the steam, but somehow I doubt things will be much more rational around here anytime soon.

Berube may have had the golden touch much of the year, but his hard matching of the ROR line vs the Scheifele line has not worked out well for the Blues at all.

I think we can call trying to stretch the neutral zone a failed experiment as well. The Blues weren't good at it during the regular season, and they weren't good at it tonight. Winnipeg is doing a very good job of taking away the middle outlet, and the Blues aren't doing a good job of getting the puck to the weak side to beat the pressure and find the quiet ice. If the Blues can't find a way to get off the strong side cleanly on breakouts, they're going to continue to struggle hard.

I don't see the point in running an umbrella the way the Blues are running it. Having Tarasenko on the left wall completely defuses much of the threat it should pose (and yes, I know he scored from there). What's the point of working the puck from the right side when there's no one-time threat on the left? You get the puck over there, and by the time he corrals it and positions his body to shoot the defense has had time to shift. Without that quick-hitting weak-side threat on the left, the defense can overplay the strong side shooting lanes and threats. You still might be able to salvage it with some creative play below the circles, but we're not seeing that, either. I'd love to hear the logic behind what they're doing, because I'm sure not seeing it.

Love the *****ing about Pietrangelo being aggressive on the first goal against. When he applied pressure, there was two other Blues back in textbook defensive position and no other Winnipeg player was even in the neutral zone. That's exactly the time you're supposed to step up and apply pressure. You clearly don't want three guys to back into the zone on a one-on-three. The closest guy steps up (Pietrangelo), the next closest supports (Dunn), and the third guards the middle (Sundqvist). Perron failed to apply meaningful back-side pressure (basically letting the puck carrier skate right past him on the zone entry completely unmolested) and Sundqvist played ECHL quality defense, which somehow turned a three on four into a goal against. If you want to point fingers, that's where to point them.

Schenn and Tarasenko releasing a man in the middle (anticipating a rim-around) to cheat to the corner and weak-side boards, respectively, on that last goal was just sickening to watch.

 

[Thallis]

It seems to me a captain should show more confidence in his team to the point of saying, “ We need to go in there and TAKE the next game.”

As opposed to his “Gee guys” attitude.

This is completely asinine and just looking for a reason to dislike someone. It's especially dumb when that person has been our best player this series without it being particularly close.

 

[Brian39]

I cannot believe I missed these hats last year, I have to go find them. I'm guessing, ebay now?

Probably. Lids is sold out of them since they are always popular sellers.

With that said, the MLB does a 4th of July hat every year and I'd wager that this year's will be pretty similar to last year's.

 

[Brian39]

Gotta agree with Easton. The "analysis" in this thread is a complete embarrassment.

 

[Note Worthy]

I think maybe people need to lower their expectations of what they expect on a public internet message board. You're going to get people with various opinions and various knowledge of hockey. Some played hockey, some coached, some are just fans, etc.

This isn't some private forum for former NHLers. I appreciate the people like Easton who have vast hockey knowledge, he's forgotten more about hockey then I'll ever know. But not everyone is at that level so you're going to get various responses to emotional losses.

 

[Majorityof1]

I think maybe people need to lower their expectations of what they expect on a public internet message board. You're going to get people with various opinions and various knowledge of hockey. Some played hockey, some coached, some are just fans, etc.

This isn't some private forum for former NHLers. I appreciate the people like Easton who have vast hockey knowledge, he's forgotten more about hockey then I'll ever know. But not everyone is at that level so you're going to get various responses to emotional losses.

That's fine. Even knowledgeable people can disagree. Can't we at least expect civility toward the players of our collective favorite team? Insulting nicknames and calling players trash time after time gets hard to read when its repeated dozens of times in a game.

How about some originality period? Not just with the insulting nicknames, but reading the same tired analysis over and over again from the same poster multiplied by a dozen posters doing the same thing gets old. Easton's post looked at individual plays, and that naturally creates variety. Most others here just repeat the same mantra over and over without citing any specifics. Every time Schwartz does anything, its the same thing "Schwatrtz sucks", "Schwartz falls down all the time" "Schwartz is so bad" repeated ad nauseum.

Which leads me to restraint. Maybe people who don't have the best hockey knowledge and are repeating the same tired message over and over again, shouldn't post every minute. I ignored a single poster on this thread (first person I have ever ignored) and it cut about 4-5 messages off of each page. That is removing one poster who posts the same thing every time. He is by far the worst offender, but there are others. The bottom 10% of this board in hockey knowledge make up 90% of the posts.

 

[Cotton McKnight]

Probably. Lids is sold out of them since they are always popular sellers.

With that said, the MLB does a 4th of July hat every year and I'd wager that this year's will be pretty similar to last year's.

I'll have to pay attention this year.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

I’m not going to go back and read this thread, but I can imagine exactly what I’d find. I just chalk it up to disappointment and frustration. But there is no prize for complaining the loudest or being the most cynical.

Let me highlight a bright spot:
Binnington has shown zero sign of wilting. I am becoming more and more convinced he’s the real deal, as in: an NHL starter for this team going forward. The pressure hasn’t worn on him.

Vince Dunn has shown a higher compete level and threat level than we’d seen before. He looks like a legit fixture on the D side for the Blues for years to come.

Maroon has been one of the best players. Who would have predicted that with how his season started?

The Blues will need a couple players to step up and find something more in the next game. When I look around I see several good candidates. It’s great that Sundqvist has hit the net, but he’s not going to carry the team through the whole postseason.

 

[Cotton McKnight]

I’m not going to go back and read this thread, but I can imagine exactly what I’d find. I just chalk it up to disappointment and frustration. But there is no prize for complaining the loudest or being the most cynical.

Let me highlight a bright spot:
Binnington has shown zero sign of wilting. I am becoming more and more convinced he’s the real deal, as in: an NHL starter for this team going forward. The pressure hasn’t worn on him.

Vince Dunn has shown a higher compete level and threat level than we’d seen before. He looks like a legit fixture on the D side for the Blues for years to come.

Maroon has been one of the best players. Who would have predicted that with how his season started?

The Blues will need a couple players to step up and find something more in the next game. When I look around I see several good candidates. It’s great that Sundqvist has hit the net, but he’s not going to carry the team through the whole postseason.

It is wonderful to see those two younger players as very promising for the future of the Blues.