Your Preferred 1st Round Opponent?

[The Note]

There seems to be some wildly varying opinions on this, and since we have an off day, may as well talk about something. Who’s your preferred opponent in the first round? For me personally, it’s Dallas. Their goaltending is great and they’ve limited goals, but they really can’t score outside of the top line. They remind of past versions of Blues teams that couldn’t get any offense in the postseason. @Brian39 did a great job in another thread breaking down the regular season matchup, particularly the goaltending the two teams received in games against each other and I don’t think Dallas is a bad matchup as much as I think Dallas caught the Blues at the right time.

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[KingBran]

Nashville. Weakest team in the list IMO.

Nobody on their O is scary.
Their D is overrated but can score.
They live and die by their G.... who is perennial playoff choker.

Colorado, we probably wont play them but when they are on they are almost unstoppable.
One good line up front.
Not so great D.
Very inconsistent goaltending

Dallas at least has scary dudes up front.
Decent defense
One of the best goalies in the NHL.​

Winnipeg:
Probably the best offense and defense outside of St. Louis. Goaltending is above average and can steal some games.

 

[ZigZagBluesFan]

Colorado. They're the worst team on the list.

 

[BlueDream]

Colorado easily but they’re the most unlikely.

So:

Preds
Stars
Jets

Jets are by far our worst matchup IMO. So of course that’s who we are gonna get.

 

[LGB]

Looking into the numbers it is crazy how bad Winnipeg has been in the second half. They haven't had a positive xG rate since January. I voted them.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

“I don’t care.” (There is an old MST3K skit about a kid that says this.)

I feel the Blues can beat any of those teams if they play their game, what’s more I beleive they can beat any combo of those teams in back-to-back series. I’m ready to be disappointed again, as always, but I like the way the road looks for the Blues to have as realistic of a shot at the SCF as they’ve had in decades.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

I can tell you this, if you made the same poll for the rest of the division, I doubt any fan base would be voting to play the Blues.

 

[Falco Lombardi]

I can tell you this, if you made the same poll for the rest of the division, I doubt any fan base would be voting to play the Blues.

Eh. I could see Dallas wanting the Blues. Winnipeg maybe prefers us to Nashville.

I don’t think there’s a fear of us....yet

 

[Stealth JD]

in order of preference:
(1) Colorado, (2) Dallas, (3) Nashville then (4) Winnipeg.
Mainly wanted the last two to beat each other up in Rd. 1.

 

[Dbrownss]

I'd like to avoid Auston Watson charging into every single hit. Oddly enough for me...the Peg

 

[Stealth JD]

I'd like to avoid Auston Watson charging into every single hit. Oddly enough for me...the Peg

How many Auston Watson's would it take to equal one Dustin Byfuglien? That dude could single handedly move guys from the playoff roster to the IR on every shift if he wanted to. I want no part of playoff Byfuglien...let alone a fresh playoff Byfuglien. If it's got to happen, make it Rd. 2 please.

 

[TheDizee]

anyone, doesnt matter

 

[Dbrownss]

How many Auston Watson's would it take to equal one Dustin Byfuglien? That dude could single handedly move guys from the playoff roster to the IR on every shift if he wanted to. I want no part of playoff Byfuglien...let alone a fresh playoff Byfuglien. If it's got to happen, make it Rd. 2 please.

He's a dman and when he's running around like a dipshit he's even worse at defending.....and I find him to be a pretty crappy dman anyways.

 

[Novacain]

I'd like to avoid Auston Watson charging into every single hit. Oddly enough for me...the Peg

This is me as well. The Preds are seemingly heating up, Colorado is on a huge steak to get into the playoffs and I’d rather the Pacific deal with them, and Dallas just makes me uneasy.

Winnipeg basically let us and Nashville into a division race that shouldn’t be a race. There just seems to be something wrong with that team I can’t place.

 

[The Note]

I definitely don’t buy the argument that Winnipeg and Nashville are just going to flip this switch and everything will be fine. I’m sure if one of them could’ve taken the division they would’ve done so, a long time ago. Having said that I think they’re definitely the two best teams on the board, with Winnipeg being the best of the lot and the fact we’re going to likely open there on the road doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence.

 

[Kreegz2]

Id love to play the Avs so i can see some playoff games here in Denver. The last Blues PO game i attended was our game 5 series clincher against the Sharks in 2012.

 

[Meatball]

I feel good about our chances against Nashville, but let the chips fall where they may.

Bring em all on.

 

[mk80]

Bring them on no matter who it is! I think we can play any team and win a series against them. Gun to my head though my rankings are: 1. Nashville 2. Winnipeg 3. Dallas 4. Colorado.

 

[BlueDream]

The one thing about playing Winnipeg in round 1 is that if the Blues beat that team and gain confidence from that, I'm not sure anyone else in the West will be able to stop them.

Maybe pouncing on the vulnerable Jets right away could be a good thing. I don't like the idea of Byfuglien in a 7-game series but we'll get through it. Any series will be a battle.

 

[HighNote]

Voted Colorado, but I don't really care who we play at this point. I have a feeling Nashville would give us the most problems. I wouldn't be surprised to see them turn it on when the playoffs start.

 

[Brian39]

Id love to play the Avs so i can see some playoff games here in Denver. The last Blues PO game i attended was our game 5 series clincher against the Sharks in 2012.

I also selfishly want the Blues to play the Avs so I can get to a couple games. My last playoff game was game 2 of that Sharks series, which was an absolute blast of a game that ended in the Polak door being opened. However, the Avs make me nervous. They go from being one of the worst teams in the league to one of the best teams in the league on a period by period basis and 3 of our 4 wins were extremely close games that were won in OT/shootout. That just feels like a back and forth series that features several multi-goal comebacks/swings. Even if we win, I think everyone will be exhausted at the end. I think I'd rather try to drain the life out of Dallas, Winnipeg or Nashville.

 

[Falco Lombardi]

Eh. I could see Dallas wanting the Blues. Winnipeg maybe prefers us to Nashville.

I don’t think there’s a fear of us....yet

Upon further review of other team forums, as often is the case @Stupendous Yappi is right and I’m wrong. Blues are definitely not the preferred choice of our fellow Central division opponents

 

[HighNote]

Upon further review of other team forums, as often is the case @Stupendous Yappi is right and I’m wrong. Blues are definitely not the preferred choice of our fellow Central division opponents

I thought it was funny looking at the Jets and Preds forums. Both of them seem to be in pretty low spirits, I almost forgot which forum I was in at times because of how similar their posts were. Some posts I saw are predicting they'll lose in the first round no matter who they play. Dark times for both of them.

 

[Falco Lombardi]

I’ve had St. Louis over Nashville all year. I really believed we were the better team, even though we weren’t showing it.

I don’t quite understand the doom and gloom in Winnipeg. They’ve been down a couple of pretty solid defenders that I’m under the impression they’ll be getting back.

 

[HighNote]

I’ve had St. Louis over Nashville all year. I really believed we were the better team, even though we weren’t showing it.

I don’t quite understand the doom and gloom in Winnipeg. They’ve been down a couple of pretty solid defenders that I’m under the impression they’ll be getting back.

They are 12-14-3 in their last 29 games. That's the worst record over that time frame among teams currently in a playoff spot. On February 2nd, they were 3rd in the entire league, and 4 points ahead of Nashville with 2 games in hand. They've now dropped to 10th in the league and are behind Nashville with the Blues hot on their tail. In their last 6 games, they are 1-4-1. They are limping into the playoffs from what I can tell, with both injuries and being ice cold.

At this point, I might just want Winnipeg over Nashville. Nashville seems like a team that is better suited for playoff hockey, and the kind of team that can find another gear. I'm not sure I see that with Winnipeg. Of course, that's just my opinion, and maybe I'm just thinking that because we might end up facing them round 1 and I need a way to make myself feel better.