GDT Game 4: 5/2/17 | 8:30 PM CDT | @ Predators | NBCSN/Y98

[not_a_wings_fan]

Suggestion for Game 5, no matter what happens the rest of the way: sit Perron in the press box.

++



I was pissed that they signed him. Guy is a turd.

Nashville was picked in the preseason to be an excellent team this year. They are doing a great job.

I was all for blowing up this team at the trade deadline because I didn't think they had nearly enough to get through to a cup. This series has done nothing to change my position.

There are some good parts, but not a good enough team. They can't score. You have to score goals to win.

[theohall]

Two goals in two playoff road games ain't gonna cut it.

The flaw for Yeo coached teams. The offense isn't there consistently.

[glen a richter]

It ain't over til the fat lady sings, but she's certainly ready to step on stage.

Blues post mortem coming up very soon.

[Toasted Oates]

Two goals in two playoff road games ain't gonna cut it.

The flaw for Yeo coached teams. The offense isn't there consistently.

I'd lay that more at the feet of the GM who gives him names like "Berglund" and "Perron" to put in his top 6.

[cardsfan04]

Refs were pretty bad. Reaves' third man in penalty was a joke, especially with 10 minutes to go in a tie playoff game. I've never heard of roughing and embellishment on the same play. I kinda sorta get it on a trip, kinda. But, on roughing?

All that said, we scored 1 goal. You're not allowed to score 1 goal and complain about the refs. We score 3, which is a reasonable, but not super lofty goal, we're talking about having home ice today, refs be damned.

[theohall]

Two goals in two playoff road games ain't gonna cut it.

The flaw for Yeo coached teams. The offense isn't there consistently.

I'd lay that more at the feet of the GM who gives him names like "Berglund" and "Perron" to put in his top 6.

Then explain the Wild's massive increase in regular season scoring when they changed coaches and barely any players. +50 in GF from last season (263 vs 213)

Anyway, the Blues are the lowest scoring team in the playoffs to have reached the 2nd round. They are only scoring 2.11 G/GM which doesn't get it done. This is very consistent with how the Blues performed against playoff teams in the regular season since Yeo took over. So, yeah, that part very easily could be considered the players. But it's also Yeo's style of coaching which is defense first. Heck, the only time it seems like the Blues can score is when the defense stops playing "safe" by staying near the blue line and actually moves closer to the top of the circles, you know, the way the Predators play all the time, not just when trailing.

Is Nashville that good defensively? It has to be considered considering what they did to Chicago and through 8 games in the playoffs they have given up the fewest goals.

Code: Select all

Team  G/GM	GA/GM
PIT	4.00	 2.50
ANA	3.43	 2.71
NSH	3.00	 1.38
WAS	2.78	 3.00
OTT	2.67	 2.56
NYR	2.67	 2.22
EDM	2.44	 2.67
STL	2.11	 2.11

[KrustyKevo]

We're really missing Fabbri's speed and play-making ability right now.

[gaijin]

Refs were pretty bad. Reaves' third man in penalty was a joke, especially with 10 minutes to go in a tie playoff game. I've never heard of roughing and embellishment on the same play. I kinda sorta get it on a trip, kinda. But, on roughing?

All that said, we scored 1 goal. You're not allowed to score 1 goal and complain about the refs. We score 3, which is a reasonable, but not super lofty goal, we're talking about having home ice today, refs be damned.

I was thinking about this earlier today, and it's exactly right. Hard to complain about refs when you can't score to save your life.

Then the more I thought about it, I started to change my mind a bit. At the time of the "brawl," the score was tied 0-0. It's not like the Blues were down 3-0 or any situation where getting an extra penalty prevented them from coming back. Yeah, we weren't putting the puck in the net, but neither was Nashville at that point. It was a goalie battle- sometimes those games end 1-0 due to outstanding defense and goaltending, which is something we can say about both of these teams in both of the first two rounds. Calling the (tenuous) extra penalty against the Blues in a 0-0 tie essentially tipped this scoreless game into Nashville's hands.

If we had lost this game 4-1, yeah, it would be absolutely pointless to complain about the call. But we lost by one goal. If not for that one goal on the ensuing PP, we would be looking at a different game after 60 minutes.

Just a thought.

[tjk002]

Refs were pretty bad. Reaves' third man in penalty was a joke, especially with 10 minutes to go in a tie playoff game. I've never heard of roughing and embellishment on the same play. I kinda sorta get it on a trip, kinda. But, on roughing?

All that said, we scored 1 goal. You're not allowed to score 1 goal and complain about the refs. We score 3, which is a reasonable, but not super lofty goal, we're talking about having home ice today, refs be damned.

So apparently the original call was on Reaves, and then somehow Edmundson ended up in the box with no explanation. And the refs wouldn't talk with Pietrangelo about it at all.

Follow
Lou Korac @lkorac10
Reaves said the original call was he and McLeod were getting two and 10 each, then "somehow that 10 got erased and Eddie got an extra 2."
1:04 AM - 3 May 2017
21 21 Retweets 35 35

Total BS!

[Toasted Oates]

Two goals in two playoff road games ain't gonna cut it.

The flaw for Yeo coached teams. The offense isn't there consistently.

I'd lay that more at the feet of the GM who gives him names like "Berglund" and "Perron" to put in his top 6.

Then explain the Wild's massive increase in regular season scoring when they changed coaches and barely any players. +50 in GF from last season (263 vs 213)

Anyway, the Blues are the lowest scoring team in the playoffs to have reached the 2nd round. They are only scoring 2.11 G/GM which doesn't get it done. This is very consistent with how the Blues performed against playoff teams in the regular season since Yeo took over. So, yeah, that part very easily could be considered the players. But it's also Yeo's style of coaching which is defense first. Heck, the only time it seems like the Blues can score is when the defense stops playing "safe" by staying near the blue line and actually moves closer to the top of the circles, you know, the way the Predators play all the time, not just when trailing.

Is Nashville that good defensively? It has to be considered considering what they did to Chicago and through 8 games in the playoffs they have given up the fewest goals.

Code: Select all

Team  G/GM	GA/GM
PIT	4.00	 2.50
ANA	3.43	 2.71
NSH	3.00	 1.38
WAS	2.78	 3.00
OTT	2.67	 2.56
NYR	2.67	 2.22
EDM	2.44	 2.67
STL	2.11	 2.11

To play devil's advocate, Staal scored a career high 28 goals and he wasn't on that team last year. That would help the number you offered quite a bit, but point taken. Regardless, the Wild's season ended with a whimper, despite their new coach and newfound freedom to score.

And yeah, have to give the Preds credit for their performance thus far. Their defensemen are a far cry from Minnesota; they're in control and don't make many mistakes.

Agree with other posters: Fabbri would be a decent player to have right now and it'd be interesting to see how the tilt would have unfolded without that scrum penalty.

Freakin' depressing. Don't want it to end this way, but trying to tell myself these players are working with "house money" anyway. It's tough with how close these games have been.

[Irish Blues]

Refs were pretty bad. Reaves' third man in penalty was a joke, especially with 10 minutes to go in a tie playoff game. I've never heard of roughing and embellishment on the same play. I kinda sorta get it on a trip, kinda. But, on roughing?

All that said, we scored 1 goal. You're not allowed to score 1 goal and complain about the refs. We score 3, which is a reasonable, but not super lofty goal, we're talking about having home ice today, refs be damned.

So apparently the original call was on Reaves, and then somehow Edmundson ended up in the box with no explanation. And the refs wouldn't talk with Pietrangelo about it at all.

Follow
Lou Korac @lkorac10
Reaves said the original call was he and McLeod were getting two and 10 each, then "somehow that 10 got erased and Eddie got an extra 2."
1:04 AM - 3 May 2017
21 21 Retweets 35 35

Total BS!

That makes no sense at all, considering Edmundson and McLeod were exchanging cross-checks before Reaves joined in. Makes even less sense when you think about times where you've seen someone jump in as the 3rd man and do a hell of a lot more and end up with nothing on the call (or, even worse, whoever got rag-dolled by the 3rd man in gets 2 minutes for getting jumped from behind).

As noted above, when you only score 1 goal you can't blame anyone else. I don't blame Allen for the 2nd goal. (I have seen a few in other places try to pin that on him.) You could tell Tarasenko was getting frustrated as the night went on; probably didn't help that most of his chances were at an angle and were generally slow-developing plays where Rinne had time to get into position. He and others just need one goal in close, in good scoring position, to develop some confidence.

One thing that's glaringly missing right now: team speed. We're getting skated around for long stretches, and we don't have a group of guys who can explosively rush the puck up the ice. If we either don't find that gear or don't figure out how to slow them down, it will be over Friday night.

[glen a richter]

Team speed always seems to be missing with this group. They're slow as Frank and that won't work in the playoffs.

[Kerfuffle]

Not over yet - the Blues will have home crowd for game 5 but need to score first or the Preds will capture the momentum back. Preds have shown a vulnerability when the Blues are able to put pressure on them. And so far through 2 series the Preds have gotten a lot of breaks.

[cardsfan04]

If given the opportunity to choose the series score through 4 games, being down 3-1 wouldn't be my first choice. That's usually a bad spot. But, I feel strangely confident that this is winnable. Win game 5 at home. Winning a home playoff game isn't a very high bar. Then, on Sunday, Preds will feel some pressure knowing that if they lose they have to come to STL after blowing a 3-1 lead. If the shoe were on the other foot, we wouldn't feel comfortable losing game 5, and neither should they.

Obviously underdogs, but this feels oddly doable.

[cardsfan04]

BTW, this is a really cool thing the Preds are doing. Donating money to help STL flood relief.

https://www.nhl.com/predators/news/nash ... -289267148

[glen a richter]

lIf they came back and won this series, that would truly be a miracle. And that's pretty much the high water mark for this team: miracle wins of some sort that ultimately leads to losing anyway.

Stillman, sell the team to someone who actually cares to build it into a winner. There's just so much that needs to be changed about the culture in and around this operation. Get control of your own AHL team instead of a shared club, revamp the entire scouting department, drop Army like a bad habit.

St. Louisians (not the ones here, you guys actually have good sense) need to be more critical of the team to the media. I've said this a billion times, the average St. Louisian, as far as I can tell, makes the players far too comfortable. If they're playing like garbage, call them out on the radio shows and to the newspapers. We do it here in NY all the time. Right now, the local media is on Noah Syndergaard's case big time because of his issues at present. If he played in St. Louis he'd be swimming in sympathy and get well cards for an injury problem he brought onto himself. If the players feel the heat, they'll perform better. If not, they can hit the bricks. You Missouri folk are simply too nice. The whole culture surrounding the Blues reeks of "mediocrity is okay". It's not. I want to see them win a Cup before I drop dead.

[Toasted Oates]

If given the opportunity to choose the series score through 4 games, being down 3-1 wouldn't be my first choice. That's usually a bad spot. But, I feel strangely confident that this is winnable. Win game 5 at home. Winning a home playoff game isn't a very high bar. Then, on Sunday, Preds will feel some pressure knowing that if they lose they have to come to STL after blowing a 3-1 lead. If the shoe were on the other foot, we wouldn't feel comfortable losing game 5, and neither should they.

Obviously underdogs, but this feels oddly doable.

I fully believe the Blues will win tomorrow. It's Game 6 I'm worried about. Agreed that this is winnable, strangely enough. All five games have gone deep into regulation.

Kerfuffle's on the money: gotta score first.

[Irish Blues]

Stillman, sell the team to someone who actually cares to build it into a winner. There's just so much that needs to be changed about the culture in and around this operation. Get control of your own AHL team instead of a shared club, revamp the entire scouting department, drop Army like a bad habit.

I wouldn't say that we need new ownership. That could always end up being worse. (We do not need a return of the Bill Laurie Reign of Terror.) We could use a less shitty lease, though.

Our own AHL team? Not a terrible idea, provided we get competent coaches who know how to develop players. Not sure I've seen that in this affiliation with Chicago, though to be fair I think you could say that about any AHL affiliation we've had for about the last 15 years.

(Might also help to finally have a team that can get somewhere in the playoffs. None of our AHL affiliates have gone past the 2nd round since the Peoria Rivermen won the Turner Cup in 1991 when the International Hockey League was still in existence. We haven't had anyone get to the 2nd round in back-to-back seasons since 1999-2000 and 2000-2001, when the Worcester IceCats did it.)

Revamp the scouting department? Eh, it probably needs some tweaks - but kind of hard to fault it completely given that the GM keeps dealing away picks in good drafts and by some accounts has his fingers in the scouting pie to some extent. If it happened, I probably wouldn't argue it.

Drop Army like you'd drop a skanky GF, though? Yes, 1000 times yes. He's pretty much riding the goodwill he built in his first year or so on the job; since then, it's been a bunch of trades that have been lateral at best, but more often than not he's come out on the short end. (Or, about what I'd expect from the average half-informed poster at any hockey forum.) A handful of us at the bar could do a better job, even with alcohol involved. For all of his teams in his years as a GM that have averaged over 100 points a season, I would expect more than one (1) appearance past the 2nd round. I'd sure as hell expect that his teams would go better than 3-9 when they had home ice advantage. (Lose this series, it will be 3-10.)

[Oaklandblue]

Stillman, sell the team to someone who actually cares to build it into a winner. There's just so much that needs to be changed about the culture in and around this operation. Get control of your own AHL team instead of a shared club, revamp the entire scouting department, drop Army like a bad habit.

Do you know how many people have called me nuts because I suggested Stillman is incompetant and should sell the team? I mean, it's pretty obvious that Stillman is a FAN and NOT an owner that makes the calls; he leaves those up to people like Army. Funny enough, I'm actually OK with that. Stillman knows he has no idea how to do this and is learning how, so to trust in a GM and make suggestions around it, is a sound idea; that's why you hire a GM in the first place.

Army has turned out to be a very conservative GM. He has made some very good trades and signings as well as some very questionable ones. We have a number of second to fourth line players under for the most part, competative contracts which I think has been done so if we need to move a player, we can. We don't have great assets in this, but we do have sound mid-range depth assets that we could trade off or lose and not hurt ourselves if we're looking to upgrade or have a need that has to be filled. It won't make us the most fantastic team but it does give us something to work with that won't cost us a Parayko, Pie or Tank.

That being said, Stillman should absolutely fire Army and promote Brodeur to GM. Buffalo wanted to hire him as GM and Marty flat out rejected the offer, we might want to pay some heed to that.

I don't think we're out of it yet. Jake has been as good as you should need a playoff netminder to be (Granted he's been under my .920 mark, but the goals he let in aren't as soft as people say and if you want to blame anything, the Zebras are over there). The Predators are literally like holding up a mirror to us. They play our style of game better than we do, and I think Yeo is paying attention to this and is going to find a way to beat them at it.

Unless our guys come out for blood, Jake has to rob the next game, it's simple as that and he absolutely can do it. Subban isn't Godlike and Rinne's game has holes in it. We can do it.

[Oaklandblue]

Suggestion for Game 5, no matter what happens the rest of the way: sit Perron in the press box.

++



I was pissed that they signed him. Guy is a turd.

Nashville was picked in the preseason to be an excellent team this year. They are doing a great job.

I was all for blowing up this team at the trade deadline because I didn't think they had nearly enough to get through to a cup. This series has done nothing to change my position.

There are some good parts, but not a good enough team. They can't score. You have to score goals to win.

In his ENTIRE playoff career, Perron's only scored THREE GOALS. What exactly were yall expecting from him? O.O