GDT #24: Dec 1: Blues v Caps (NHL-N; FSMW; KMOX) 7pm

[Krigloch the Furious]

Sure is a fun game

[Nyghtewynd]

Seriously--do we have independent confirmation that JD is still in town? Alive? Anything?

[ohio BLUES]

We are arful... in the words of Coach Z.

[dmiles2186]

Later, rinse, repeat, lose.

[philco_3]

Since when the turn into the ?

[JPonder94]

So I have been patient all year... I keep thinking a lot of people are overreacting on this site. No longer.

Brewer needs to go. Remember that breakaway in the third period? Anyone who supports that guy and says he isn't as bad as people make him out to be- try to watch that play five times in a row without breaking your tv/computer. The guy is an absolute joke. The moron in front of the me at the game was boasting about how Brewer hit 3 guys tonight. Yea, he was throwing his weight around tonight... FIRST TIME IN FOUR YEARS!! He should be doing that every game.

Halak did not play bad. Everyone in front of him did defensively.

What was that Laich goal (PPG #1)? Jackman was the only one attempting to block the passing lanes. Backes and Pietrangelo were nowhere to be found. You cannot allow 2 passes across the middle right in a row. That was an absolute joke of a play. Announcers can talk all day about what a great passing play that was; poor defensive coverage if you ask me.

And the first Backstrom goal? Jackman and Johnson had nobody tied up in front and let Backstrom walk right in and get that rebound. Yes, Halak should be covering that rebound, but goalies are going to give those up time-to-time. That is when his defense needs to step in and give him a helping hand.

Offense needs help but let's be honest; even the top offensive teams are going to score one goal in a night. The defensive play was poor poor poor tonight, much like last night. Something needs to change and FAST.

I took out my frustration on the power-play unit on the front page, but with some comedic fashion. Hopefully Curt doesn't take away my posting privileges.

[cprice12]

Halak's glove sucks. I'm sorry.
Dude can't hold on to much of anything. How many times have pucks flipped out of his glove, resulting in scoring chances for the other team?
He was dropping pucks at the start of the season too, they just never found their way into the net afterwards...but they are now. And when the puck is on the ice pinballing around in front of him, he can't ever seem to cover it with his glove. He's also a poor puck handler. Don't get me wrong...I'm glad we have him and his positioning is pretty darn good (which is his greatest strength), and he is great with his pads...but his glove and stickhandling both need some serious work. Terrible.

Once again...Brewer sucked. I have no idea why some people insist on defending him. He has sucked for five years and he's starting to suck again this year after his better than average start to the season. (told you so)

The offense is frustrating because they had a lot of good chances last night, but they just couldn't finish. Varlamov was very good, but come on...we almost had 40 shots on net AT HOME and we only get one goal? Unacceptable.
How many 2 on 1's did we have? 50? The first three of which a pass was never made...which is just poor fundamentals.

Is anyone telling Backes not to pass the puck so damn hard? Jesus. You don't have to pass the puck 100 mph. All that does is screw up a scoring chance because the player receiving the pass can't handle the damn thing. He does this all of the time...and he did it again last night on the 2 on 1 with Petro when Petro couldn't handle Backes' laserbeam pass.

Why we didn't acquire more offense in the offseason via a trade or free agency, I have no idea. It was/is by far our most glaring need. So glaring it's blinding. Cue the "beating the dead horse" icon...but I don't care. How can you not nab more offense in the offseason? Stempniak wasn't expensive...we might have been able to get him for around $2 million per...a lot of people wanted him back if he was cheap. He's got 7 goals now...that would look ok in our lineup. He's not the "top 10" guy we crave, but he's a good depth scorer...and 7 goals would be 2nd on the team in goals scored right now behind McDonald. Meh...whatever.

[dmiles2186]

I completely agree on the offensive need, but I remember so many people begging JD, Army, Checketts to get Kovy here as fast as possible and look how that's turned out. Granted, Kovy can turn it around, but it's easy to second guess in hindsight. I firmly believe that management knows they have to make the playoffs this year. If this team keeps treading water, or worse, sinking as they have been, I could see them making a move. But with what? What trade chips do we have? We've got guys on the big club trying to find their way (EJ, Petro, Perron, Osh, Berglund) or guys too far off (Allen, Schwartz, Tarasenko, though Allen is progressing pretty quickly it sounds). Maybe it's time to start giving up draft picks in deals. Hard to tell what to do at this point. You don't want to over react at this point but something has to be done. The Blues had built up enough 'goodwill' that they could coast awhile and still be in playoff contention. Within 12 games, they've completely erased that.

[glen a richter]

The absence of Polak, Perron and Oshie aside, I'm starting to think that Halak is a little bit more lucky than good. I mean, even during the winning streak at the beginning of the season, when they weren't scoring worth a damn, the Bruins and Rangers (specifically from memory) were hitting posts and crossbars left and right and having valid goals taken away because of phantom high sticks and all sorts of other fishy business.

[WaukeeBlues]

I don't think it's time for the panic button yet.

If this is what the team looks like in late March and we're battling for 8th place again... okay, valid. I'm pissed too, this sucks, but if the last two seasons have taught us anything, it's that there's a lot of hockey left to be played.

[glen a richter]

Hey I don't want to be too down on Halak either, but he is a bit shaky a lot of the time and has had success this season partly blamed on some serious dumb luck.

All I'm saying is that Jake Allen is looking like a world beater down in Peoria and if this team doesn't have Tarasenko and Perron scoring in buckets and Allen minding net within the next 2 seasons, I'd be mighty surprised.

[philco_3]

Hey I don't want to be too down on Halak either, but he is a bit shaky a lot of the time and has had success this season partly blamed on some serious dumb luck.

All I'm saying is that Jake Allen is looking like a world beater down in Peoria and if this team doesn't have Tarasenko and Perron scoring in buckets and Allen minding net within the next 2 seasons, I'd be mighty surprised.

So the NHL will make more difficult for the Blues and substitute hockey nets for buckets in 2 years...we're boned.

[Krigloch the Furious]

All this talk about Halak...
Score some freaking goals. Defense is fine and goaltending is fine.
Once brewer is gone and Polak is back the D will be fine

[joosforjihad]

Just got tix for $20 over the phone. They'd better not shit the bed....

I call this a waste of $20. Unless you pine to see Ovechkin, Backstrom and Semin cream the Blues for 6 points each.

It's a waste of 20 bucks to see the best team in the NHL (who only come to town once every 2 or 3 years) play my favorite team? OK

Do you ever go to any Islander games?