GDT: WCSF - Game 1| Blues @ Avs| 8:30, TNT|

[AjaxManifesto]

Man, to lose in game 7 of the finals in OT….sucks. Congrats Colorado on one hell of a….what? It’s not the end of the season? Oh shit I better alert The main boards they’ve already got the parade planned

They are so pumped after game 1 they are all over our team board posting, liking, etc. They can't contain themselves.

 

[TheDizee]

These late games are brutal as I can't just turn it off when its over and go to bed.

Just rewatched OT. The biggest thing the Blues can clean up right away is their decision making with the puck and playing more composed.

Few examples
Blues kill off the PP to start OT. Rather than immediately start thinking about offense and maybe hitting Schenn coming out of the box, Buchnevich rifles it down the ice. Had time and space to otherwise make a play.
View attachment 548629

Few plays later - where does Perron go with this puck? You guessed it. Right in the middle of three Av players. Puck is turned over and going the other way in a hurry.
View attachment 548630

Kyrou has the puck here with a chance to clear but is indecisive and lets two Av players collapse on him. Turnover and almost leads to the GWG by MacKinnon.
View attachment 548631

Any guesses where Saad tries to pass this puck to not once but twice from behind the net?
View attachment 548632

Bozak overskates the puck behind the net. Another offensive zone turnover where we had some possession.
View attachment 548633

Nice stretch pass during a line change that almost springs Saad. Johnson gets a piece of the puck. Saad proceeds to lose a puck battle to Makar behind the net that results in the play going the other way.
View attachment 548634

Potential for a give-and-go here for Rosen but instead he dumps the puck behind the Avalanche net after gaining the blueline instead of hitting a streaking Toropchenko that is driving the net.
View attachment 548635

Last but not least, there is the defensive zone faceoff that we win but Kyrou turns the puck over again on the boards.
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Also, was this puck played with a highstick? Sure looks like it to me. Kadri bats it down with a highstick after Binnington made two saves. Kicks it over to Landeskog who dishes it back to Manson for the game winner.
View attachment 548636

Backing up a few moments before that, Makar ices the puck at 12:34 (which somehow isn't called), Parayko retrieves it behind the net but turns it over with a lazy play up the boards instead of skating it out of danger like we've seen him do a million times before. MacKinnon gets a shot off that Binnington freezes. Puck ends up in the back of the net after the ensuing faceoff.

A combination of poor execution, poor decision making and poor officiating in OT.

officiating didnt cost the blues the game last night but are we really surprised about it being garbage? been garbage all playoffs and we are playing gary's darling team. they will do everything in their power to make sure their welfare hockey team advances.

low sticking call in a 2-2 game with 1:20 left? YOU GOT IT DUDE!

its not a shock that the blues have a deadly PP but only got to use it once last night. colorado did not "magically" just not take penalties, they were holding and picking all night long. ref realized a 2-0 PP count looks very bad on paper so they finally called one of their cheap lazy holds. it cost them and thats why that low sticking BS call was made. that probably the worst call of the playoffs outside of missing 3 delay of game calls since those are not subjective at all.

refs are a joke but so was that blues effort last night. that was seriously one of the most boring games ive watched and by far the most boring blues playoff game. if that the kind of effort the note want to bring this series, gonna be over fast. avs brought their A game and we brought our D- game. only reason it wasnt a F is cause of binner.

They are so pumped after game 1 they are all over our team board posting, liking, etc. They can't contain themselves.

yes that what they did last year but have no fear. this is the second round they are in. you could give them a 3-0 lead and they'd choke it away. they almost lost to 90 and 50 alone last night, look how many times they choked on free goals. it only gonna get tighter as the series progresses aslong as the blues decide to show up.

it still amuses the shit out of me how any sane person thinks they can win a cup with their goaltender. Look at the goaltending left in the playoffs. Outside of mike smith, they all have better goalies than the refalanche.

 

[TheDizee]

6 Games remaining in this series. Let's hope the rest of the Blues show up on time for the rest of the games. Tonight it seems only Binnington and ROR showed up to the arena

total embarrassment how they played last night. i was over it after 2nd period of a 2-1 game. laid down and watched third from bed until that joke low sticking call forced me up. that was the worst game since the carolina blowout at home when they started their point streak after. if that is how the russian players and robert thomas want to play in the playoffs, move them out for a bag of cheetos. you could have told me 91/49/18 didnt play and i would have believed you. I thought buch was good on the PK but sure would be nice to see him step his game up 5on5.

blues are not in trouble until they lose a home game but the faster they win a road game the more pressure they put on the refalanche and that core and fanbase actually has shown they cant handle being under pressure. i dont see the blues winning more than 1 game in their barn this series unless we get PP fests and their goalie chokes so its pretty important to be lights out at home.

if thats how they want to play this series then expect AWFUL ratings. nobody is gonna stay up for 9pm bullshit weeknight starts to watch the blues play like that. id rather watch the history channel.

 

[execwrite1]

A game we could have won. That's something.

Binnington was Stanley Cup Binnington. That's important.

The goal is still to advance. Must win on Thursday.

Let's Go Blues!

 

[AjaxManifesto]

A game we could have won. That's something.

Binnington was Stanley Cup Binnington. That's important.

The goal is still to advance. Must win on Thursday.

Let's Go Blues!

Missed a great chance to steal one. Binny was unreal. Too bad not many others on the team could muster something extra to take us to the W.

As I've said, the Russians and the Kids (18, 25) are not playing anywhere near their top level. I don't get it.

 

[Bobby Orrtuzzo]

They are so pumped after game 1 they are all over our team board posting, liking, etc. They can't contain themselves.

At least it’s their nice posters and not the trolls…yet

 

[Chet Manly]

Are we sure we didn't leave Perron in minny?

Holy shit, that was his worst game of the season.

Nice timing Dave.

 

[illinidave]

Buch Factor DP57
Kyrou Thomas Vladi
Saad Schenn Barbi
Toropchenko bozak Walker

 

[Chet Manly]

Man, this team can be frustrating.

I wouldn't be this excited for the series if I knew last night was their best efforts (any efforts??).

Still, could have easily stolen that one. We'll get em Thursday.

 

[ChillWill1]

Man I maybe the only one to feel this way. But I feel like Sunny and Blais would have brought some much needed energy if we both had them on our 4th line with Toro.

 

[ChillWill1]

I know we are respecting their speed but I hate how we aren’t as aggressive as them in the neutral zone. We’re just letting them enter the zone at their own will. Colorado’s style of play reminds me of LA 2014’s team. Relentless and smothering forechecking. You don’t let your opponent breathe at all. Their relying on our guys to make mistakes in their own zone and that’s exactly what’s happening. We have to be stronger on the puck, win more board battles, and have cleaner d-zone exits. Binnington has instilled a new confidence in me you guys I won’t lie to you. But we absolutely have to clean it up on D and O or we’re gone in 4 boys.

 

[Linkens Mastery]

Man I maybe the only one to feel this way. But I feel like Sunny and Blais would have brought some much needed energy if we both had them on our 4th line with Toro.

I'd still take Buch over Blais every single day of the week.

 

[hullderko]

These late games are brutal as I can't just turn it off when its over and go to bed.

Just rewatched OT. The biggest thing the Blues can clean up right away is their decision making with the puck and playing more composed.

Few examples
Blues kill off the PP to start OT. Rather than immediately start thinking about offense and maybe hitting Schenn coming out of the box, Buchnevich rifles it down the ice. Had time and space to otherwise make a play.
View attachment 548629

Few plays later - where does Perron go with this puck? You guessed it. Right in the middle of three Av players. Puck is turned over and going the other way in a hurry.
View attachment 548630

Kyrou has the puck here with a chance to clear but is indecisive and lets two Av players collapse on him. Turnover and almost leads to the GWG by MacKinnon.
View attachment 548631

Any guesses where Saad tries to pass this puck to not once but twice from behind the net?
View attachment 548632

Bozak overskates the puck behind the net. Another offensive zone turnover where we had some possession.
View attachment 548633

Nice stretch pass during a line change that almost springs Saad. Johnson gets a piece of the puck. Saad proceeds to lose a puck battle to Makar behind the net that results in the play going the other way.
View attachment 548634

Potential for a give-and-go here for Rosen but instead he dumps the puck behind the Avalanche net after gaining the blueline instead of hitting a streaking Toropchenko that is driving the net.
View attachment 548635

Last but not least, there is the defensive zone faceoff that we win but Kyrou turns the puck over again on the boards.
View attachment 548637


Also, was this puck played with a highstick? Sure looks like it to me. Kadri bats it down with a highstick after Binnington made two saves. Kicks it over to Landeskog who dishes it back to Manson for the game winner.
View attachment 548636

Backing up a few moments before that, Makar ices the puck at 12:34 (which somehow isn't called), Parayko retrieves it behind the net but turns it over with a lazy play up the boards instead of skating it out of danger like we've seen him do a million times before. MacKinnon gets a shot off that Binnington freezes. Puck ends up in the back of the net after the ensuing faceoff.

A combination of poor execution, poor decision making and poor officiating in OT.

Great post. And for some reason we have Mikkola running around the entire dzone leaving Kyrou to work the next front? Saw this all game long along with a lot of weak sticks and no jump to open pucks.

 

[ChillWill1]

I'd still take Buch over Blais every single day of the week.

I know me too but I wish we could have both Blais/Sunny laying the body on the Avs will be crucial right now. We need a few guys to lay the wood to keep them honest.

 

[WeWentBlues]

Anyone else see Kadri bat the puck down with a high stick right before the GWG?

Refs also waived off an icing just before the face off that led to GWG and I'm not sure why.

 

[Allens Five Hole]

Well, that was like watching a train wreck. Binner pulled an Oettinger and also got quite a bit of puck luck with several posts. I like to think he was just perfectly on his angles

Positives for me:

1. Binner has to be number one because that was about the only bright spot. He is obviously locked in and looked great last night. He was lucky in some instances but this was a terrific performance, he did not look lost at all like he has throughout parts of this year. He was always in the right position and he had no shot on the GWG with all that traffic in front of him. It's a shame we weren't able to steal this game as that could very likely be his best performance of the series, it was that good.

2. Can't play any worse. Everyone but ROR played with a rubber stick it seemed like. No one could hold possession and we constantly turned the puck over in all 3 zones. I don't expect this to continue to the degree that it did in Game 1, but I also don't expect the Avs to continue getting unlucky with their posts.

3. Power play got on the board again, even if not in conventional fashion. I'll take that and hopefully we get more chances moving forward. We won't win this series if they are only going to give us 1 chance per night.

I don't really think I need to go over the negatives. Everyone who watched can see for themselves how abject that performance was. We have another chance Thursday to even the series and I expect that we will be much more crisp with our entire game tomorrow night.

 

[Vladys Gumption]

The scary part to me is that I thought we did a decent job of limiting Makar last night. Not a total shutdown, but I didn’t notice him as much as normal.

They dummied us with Makar not being his normal self. What are they gonna do when he gets going?

 

[Blueston]

This isn’t over yet. We were never going to sweep them. We will win tomorrow.

 

[Ridge1982]

oh well bring on thursday ... we dont have a chance member .. pepperige farms remembers

We still don’t. COL toyed with us.

 

[AjaxManifesto]

The scary part to me is that I thought we did a decent job of limiting Makar last night. Not a total shutdown, but I didn’t notice him as much as normal.

They dummied us with Makar not being his normal self. What are they gonna do when he gets going?

I thought the D was okay last night. Binny, of course, was fantastic.

The problem was our O. Our scoring depth was AWOL....again.

I want to chalk it up to altitude, but when your most intense guy is an aging ROR and your young guys look uninspired and clueless, it's very defeating. I doubt the altitude was the issue.

Berube nailed it. We need to generate some O and play in their end. I could count on one hand how many times we strung together more than 3 passes. I saw lots of bad passes, guys falling down, lots of one and done attacks, but nothing sustained.

If we keep playing like this it's over in 5-6.

I'm still hoping the Blues O comes alive and we can get this done in 7, but that is looking like a tall order if our O lines don't get going. Thursday will tell all. If we lose on Thursday it's the Avs in 5-6. If we win on Thursday we have a chance to take this to 7.

 

[Blueston]

 

[Allens Five Hole]

Thomas has to be the most disappointing player on this team so far these playoffs. I can't imagine he's fully healthy but at the same time, the mistakes I see him making all seem to be mental rather than a physical limitation.

 

[Zezel’s Pretzels]

Couldn’t hang last night; too late for this east coaster. After the first period, had a feeling this game would transpire almost exactly as it sounds it did.

But this franchise under Chief is mega resilient and makes adjustments. I am oddly confident in a Game 2 win where they look like a totally different squad.

LGB!

 

[BlueOil]

fun game live, props to the other blues fans for keeping the chants going

winnington was great and deserved better. avs could've had a multi-goal lead with ease if not for him. also nice to see the powerplay come through late in the game and force OT, even while killing a penalty. avs didn't throw everything at the blues, but they did push hard offensively and winnington alone was nearly enough to withstand that. blues can't sustain that, but it was great to see. get scandella back in the line up to shore up the defense and clean things up - a W isn't out of reach against the avs next game

 

[Klank Loves You]

Disappointing. We have to be better. What else is there to say?