Let's Go Blues

With the shellacking of the Ducks last night, the Blues are only 5 points from the #6 playoff spot, regardless of any outcomes today and will have 2 or 3 games in hand on all the teams ahead of them. On top of that, they face Chicago, Calgary twice and Columbus twice in the next 15 games. Other games in that stretch are against conference leaders Detroit and Vancouver and bottom feeders Edmonton and Colorado.

A little help would be nice, but the facking suck-ass Red Wings couldn't even get that right today by turning their match with the Wild into a 3-point affair. At least the Wild only got 1 point.

As long as the Blues take care of business against the teams ahead of them and win the games in hand, the Blues make the playoffs. This team has a real shot with the tight Western Conference race despite no one mentioning them even being in the hunt in the national media. The recent trades should provide the offense and shed the team of their two biggest defensive liabilities this season.

Feel free to share your thoughts on the 2010-11 playoff Blues.

Last time the Blues were in the playoffs, they had to leapfrog, if I'm not mistaken, more teams as they had been sitting pretty in dead last before the Boston Miracle. This time the gap is smaller and, in light of the trades that were made, they are a seemingly stronger team in front with the puck and on defense, on the PP and shorthanded. I think both trades were shrewd moves: 1 to get Brewer off the team--the players are saying all the right things "He was a teammate, it's a surprise, he was our captain" but inside they know it was the right move, and Steward + Shattenkirk are just what the doctor ordered, especially Stewart. Yeah, 9-3 v. the Ducks was one game, and they were playing against rookie goalies, but it was still 9-3 and if they'd been playing against Hiller instead, would it have been 6-3? A win is a win, and a 6 goal night and a 9 goal night are both impressive. I know that 9-3 wins won't be an every night thing, but I think that Payne has a million more options now and the playoffs are much more likely today than they were a week ago. Now if only DP would magically recover, this thing would be a lock. I think that the Blues, on paper, are a top team and could make noise in the playoffs.

It's probably unwise to use last night as a measuring stick of how good they are, but that win has me very pumped about how we can finish the season. If they can keep up this kind of energy, I like our chances.

cardsfan04 wrote:It's probably unwise to use last night as a measuring stick of how good they are, but that win has me very pumped about how we can finish the season. If they can keep up this kind of energy, I like our chances.

To think 9-3 will be an every night occurrence would be insane, but we need to keep in mind that, in spite of the ineptitude of this team pre-trades, they are the only team in the NHL to not be shut out this season AND adding Stewart will most likely do wonders for multiple players on the team getting and executing more scoring chances. I feel very good about their chances of making the playoffs. I think gone are the 1 goal nights, so really the onus of responsibility will now be on the goalies and defense to not shit a brick. The O should be able to get the job done.

I cant wait to see how the PP finishes out for the rest of the year.
dunno about the playoffs, but im pretty happy with this team right now.

Mikko Koivu of the Wild is hurt as well so maybe they will sink lower in the standings.

Forgot to mention one thing which I did mention elsewhere.

The Blues do lack a shut-down defensive forward since they traded McClement, unless you count Steen in that role, but his role is on a scoring line with Oshie and Berglund. This could be an issue and was for the Blues 3rd line last night.

I wouldn't be surprised if there is one more move somewhere to address that need.

theohall wrote:Forgot to mention one thing which I did mention elsewhere.

The Blues do lack a shut-down defensive forward since they traded McClement, unless you count Steen in that role, but his role is on a scoring line with Oshie and Berglund. This could be an issue and was for the Blues 3rd line last night.

I wouldn't be surprised if there is one more move somewhere to address that need.

maybe we can trade Conks for a player that you seek.

I would love to think that the Blues could still make the playoffs.

As a fan, I believe they still have it in them. As a realist, it's still a long shot--and a lot of things would have to go right to atone for an atrocious January.

Bottom line: in spite of the past two games' efforts, everything is not all duckies and bunnies. Games in hand means a ridiculous schedule from here on out (= high probability of fatigue, and not much practice time to correct issues should they arrive). Losing McClement is going to sting a little unless someone else can pick up his defensive responsibilities. The Blues haven't exactly been playing lights out against good defenses. Current goaltending is adequate at best.

Having said that, I'm hopeful, and either way I'm on board for what will be a great ride...

Pretty amazing that all of a sudden we are only 6 points back and we feel good about the team we saw on the ice last night.

One time for sure, we need Halak down the stretch to get hot enough that he can single-handidly win us some games.




Or Conklin

It is a long shot indeed. A week ago, I was ready to give up on this team. But I was int he building last night against the Ducks. I think the team made believers out of a lot of us. Granted, we were playing subpar goalies, but the Blues had jump, they had a new life to them. All it takes is a snowball affect. We snowball up the standings and a team or two in front of us snowball down the standings. We've seen it happen before. But we HAVE to keep winning and if we do lose, we have to lose in OT to get at least a point. Can't win them all, but they've gotta play each game like they can.

Montreal and Pittsburgh didn't help out at all today...

For those math majors out there.

You needed 95 pts to get into the playoffs last year. 91 the year before that. With the roadblock of average teams in the West, it's looking like it'll be at least 95 points again.

Meaning...

Blues got 25 games to play. They have 63 points. They need 32 points to hit 95. They have to win 16 games or some lower win percentage but combined with OT losses to hit that number.

Looking at just wins, winning 16 of 25 puts them at a "must have" win percentage of 64%.

If they lose more than 9 games in regulation, they're in trouble/done.

I'm saying 17 more wins get them in this season.

Pretty amazing that all of a sudden we are only 6 points back and we feel good about the team we saw on the ice last night.

One time for sure, we need Halak down the stretch to get hot enough that he can single-handidly win us some games.




Or Conklin

thats a pretty high percentage of 64% of wins down the strech, but we can do it.

glen a richter wrote:

cardsfan04 wrote:It's probably unwise to use last night as a measuring stick of how good they are, but that win has me very pumped about how we can finish the season. If they can keep up this kind of energy, I like our chances.

To think 9-3 will be an every night occurrence would be insane

Nobody thinks that.
But it's true...the Ducks goaltending is terrible after Hiller...I mean really, really bad. And it showed last night. So that game isn't really an accurate reading on how good this team is after the trades.

With that said...the Blues badly outplayed Anaheim and deserved to win the game. They still win that game with Hiller in net...so it doesn't matter.

Stewart and Shattenkirk looked very good.
I loved the way the power play looked at the points with Shattenkirk and Petro...wow, was it clicking out high.

Stewart, Backes & McDonald...are you kidding me? That line looks great.

If Halak can return on Tuesday and play like he is capable of playing down the stretch, I think the playoff outlook for this team is drastically better than it was a few days ago.

I'm optimistic. And it's nice to have games in hand. If we win those and continue to play well, I like our chances.

Just keep winning.

17-8 does the trick. It's doable. According to Waukee, 16-9 does the trick too, but I think it'll take 17.

What helps is a 6 or 7 game win streak. Get it done, boys!

glen a richter wrote:17-8 does the trick. It's doable. According to Waukee, 16-9 does the trick too, but I think it'll take 17.

What helps is a 6 or 7 game win streak. Get it done, boys!

Well, we've been doing it since the all-star break. 5-1-2 since then...we just need to keep doing it.

And no 3 pt. games against teams we are chasing. That's a huge buzzkill.

If we can beat Chicago, after that, 5 of the next 6 are very winnable games...the only toughie being against Vancouver, whom we just beat the other day.

Actually, looking the rest of the way...we have a fairly easy schedule. Not a lot of tough teams in there. 25 games left...and only 6 of them are against top teams. And of those 6 games, only 2 are at home. So we'll have our work cut out for us there.

Simple formula:
1) Win the games in hand = 6-8 point game depending on the team ahead
2) Beat the teams ahead of you in the standings in the 6-x spots - x being the Blues current spot.
3) Beat the crappy teams.

Losing to conference leaders or Eastern teams won't hurt as long as those losses aren't the critical games in hand.

The Blues are only 3 wins - THREE from being 7th in the Western Conference. Is 3 more wins than the 6 teams ahead of them really that hard? And that number didn't include Calgary - currently number 6 whom the Blues have a home and home with. Two wins against them puts them only 3 points behind the #6 team and the Blues have FOUR games in hand on them.

The Blues need to win and win alot during the next three weeks when they have 13 games over 21 days - with about half of them against opponents in playoff spots the Blues could obtain.