Page 1 of 1

GDT #29: 12/10/13 > Blues @ Jets > 7:00 PM > FSMW/KMOX

Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2013 7:55 am
by dmiles2186
Down with the Thrashers!
BLUES (19-6-3) at JETS (14-13-4)

TV: FS-MW, TSN-JETS

Last 10: St. Louis 6-4-0; Winnipeg 4-4-2

Season series: This is the third of five games between the teams this season. The Winnipeg Jets won 4-3 in a shootout win at home Oct. 18 and the Blues rebounded with a 3-2 home victory Oct. 29.

Big story: While Blues forward Alexander Steen (20 goals, 32 points) is considered by many to be one of the NHL's first-quarter breakout stars, teammate Jaden Schwartz is emerging as an equally important impact player in his second season. Schwartz has nine points in the past nine games and is tied for sixth on the team with 19 points while averaging 16:09 of ice time. He's tied for the team lead with 23 takeaways and his 53 shots already top last year's total by three in 17 fewer games.

Team Scope:

Blues: St. Louis has struggled recently, dropping three of four games while being outscored 9-1 in the first period in the past four games. The Blues lost 5-2 against the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday, and coach Ken Hitchcock said he would like his players to "buy in" to the game plan a lot more.

The Blues entered the week 15th in the League with an average of 29.9 shots per game. In the first 20 games they averaged 31.3 per game, but that number has slipped to 26.5 in their past eight.

"When you don't have a mindset of checking, then that affects your competitive level, races for pucks, puck battles, 50/50 pucks," Hitchcock said Saturday. "When your mindset is something other than checking to start with, that affects everything. It's been the same. We went through this last year and it was … a month we went through this where we had to change our attitude towards what was important."

Jets: The Jets concluded a successful six-game run spanning two weeks through the Eastern Conference with a 2-1 overtime win against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday. Winnipeg ended the trip with a 4-2 record, with victories against the New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning.

Saturday against the Lightning, Blake Wheeler had a goal and an assist, Mark Scheifele scored the game-winner 1:04 into overtime and goalie Al Montoya made 28 saves.

"There's definitely a black and white with our team," Wheeler told the Winnipeg Sun. "When we play well we give ourselves a chance to win every night, and when we don't we don't give ourselves a chance.

"Every time we were knocked down a peg we found a way to get back up. It's a good learning tool for us. But the bigger lesson is no complacency. We can't be satisfied with ourselves or patting ourselves on the back."

Who's hot: Wheeler is on a three-game point streak; he has two goals and four points in that stretch. … The Blues' T.J. Oshie has one goal and seven points in the past seven games.

Injury report: Blues defenseman Jordan Leopold (hand) and forward Ryan Reaves (hand) are on injured reserve. … Winnipeg forward Jim Slater (hernia) and defensemen Paul Postma (leg) and Zach Bogosian (groin) are on injured reserve. Forward Evander Kane (lower body) is questionable.

Re: GDT #29: 12/10/13 > Blues @ Jets > 7:00 PM > FSMW/KMOX

Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2013 10:44 am
by STLADOGG
Tough building to play in, we can't afford to drop a few goals early.

Re: GDT #29: 12/10/13 > Blues @ Jets > 7:00 PM > FSMW/KMOX

Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2013 11:23 am
by drwoland
Better eat their wheaties this morning!

5-3 Blues. Berglund, Stewart, Cole, Paajarvi, Polak

Re: GDT #29: 12/10/13 > Blues @ Jets > 7:00 PM > FSMW/KMOX

Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2013 11:38 am
by kodos
We should totally give up like 4 goals in the first 10 minutes and then try to claw our way back to a victory.

That's an awesome tactic.

Re: GDT #29: 12/10/13 > Blues @ Jets > 7:00 PM > FSMW/KMOX

Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2013 11:50 am
by abc789987
kodos wrote:We should totally give up like 4 goals in the first 10 minutes and then try to claw our way back to a victory.

That's an awesome tactic.
I like this idea. :okman:

Re: GDT #29: 12/10/13 > Blues @ Jets > 7:00 PM > FSMW/KMOX

Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2013 12:46 pm
by gaijin
abc789987 wrote:
kodos wrote:We should totally give up like 4 goals in the first 10 minutes and then try to claw our way back to a victory.

That's an awesome tactic.
I like this idea. :okman:
I'm on board. The boys should try this sometime.

Re: GDT #29: 12/10/13 > Blues @ Jets > 7:00 PM > FSMW/KMOX

Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2013 4:59 pm
by ComradeT
gaijin wrote:
abc789987 wrote:
kodos wrote:We should totally give up like 4 goals in the first 10 minutes and then try to claw our way back to a victory.

That's an awesome tactic.
I like this idea. :okman:
I'm on board. The boys should try this sometime.
They have. The other teams sniffed it out and refused to score so many so quickly fearing the Blues' wraith. Seems like Blues don't get so angry if you space the goals out a little bit.

Re: GDT #29: 12/10/13 > Blues @ Jets > 7:00 PM > FSMW/KMOX

Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2013 7:25 am
by abc789987
Hey, look at that. They don't give up 4 goals in the first period and they managed to win.

Anyways, kind of looked like we got outplayed again, but was bailed out by our goalie again. Is this what good teams do?

Re: GDT #29: 12/10/13 > Blues @ Jets > 7:00 PM > FSMW/KMOX

Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2013 7:53 am
by dmiles2186
Good, tough road win. I thought Elliott was the linchpin in net. We didn't seem to have a lot of flow offensively, but we were able to cash in when it counted. And kudos to Shatty scoring on a weird knucklepuck style shot after the deflection. We didn't crap a point into the division, stole both late. Sweet. Bring on the Leafs.

Re: GDT #29: 12/10/13 > Blues @ Jets > 7:00 PM > FSMW/KMOX

Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2013 2:07 pm
by Nyghtewynd
Always good to get two in the division. But it's still Winnipeg.

Re: GDT #29: 12/10/13 > Blues @ Jets > 7:00 PM > FSMW/KMOX

Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2013 11:03 pm
by ViPeRx007
abc789987 wrote:Hey, look at that. They don't give up 4 goals in the first period and they managed to win.

Anyways, kind of looked like we got outplayed again, but was bailed out by our goalie again. Is this what good teams do?
No, because the Blues aren't very good. They have a 20-6-3 record..bunch of losers.

Do I believe the Blues have been playing great lately? No, they've hit a bit of a lull. But for crying out loud, what kind of expectations do you have for these guys?

Re: GDT #29: 12/10/13 > Blues @ Jets > 7:00 PM > FSMW/KMOX

Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2013 12:52 am
by Oaklandblue
ViPeRx007 wrote:
abc789987 wrote:Hey, look at that. They don't give up 4 goals in the first period and they managed to win.

Anyways, kind of looked like we got outplayed again, but was bailed out by our goalie again. Is this what good teams do?
No, because the Blues aren't very good. They have a 20-6-3 record..bunch of losers.

Do I believe the Blues have been playing great lately? No, they've hit a bit of a lull. But for crying out loud, what kind of expectations do you have for these guys?
Our record sounds great, 20-6-3, and it is BUT the playoff format has changed.

Losing two games can knock us down out of even Wildcard position. It's VITAL that we win the games we can win. The format hasn't gotten easier, it's gotten much harder and we need to play accordingly. Coming out flat the last half dozen games is a recipe for trouble - that's the old way the Blues played and a tradition that needs to be taken out back and shot.

A better answer: To play like a team that spent to the Cap would be roughly my expectations. Stewart needs to go the frank a-frankin-way nowwww, Cracknell and Cole needs to stay, stay, stay, Bergy needs to be benched, Reaves needs to get well A to the SAP, Derek Roy needs more ice time because the guy does NOT dump pucks, Schwartz is a BEAST and everyone else is good or bloody fantastic.

I used to outright hate Halak and would have loved to see him traded for a bag of pucks, but the guys been awesome. Him and Ells are just MONEY in goal, it's not even funny.

But to properly answer the question, really answer it, here goes: I wish Hitch would not give preference to the veterans and do what's best for the team. He has this reputation which may be why Stewart gets played over SO MANY OTHERS just because he has years under his belt. He didn't play Tarasenko in the playoffs for similar stupid reasons. Isn't his job to win? Shouldn't players like Bergy and Stewart be made to ride pine? Where's the example here, or is it that the vets will always see things through, which is why we get old Dallas Stars players on the team? I'm seriously starting to wonder, because when he makes a few changes, BANG - we're rolling on all cylinders even if we're rusty and we're making things happen. When he doesn't, we get steamrolled unless players like Stewart decides tonight he'll make an effort. It's really pathetic and boils me.

Re: GDT #29: 12/10/13 > Blues @ Jets > 7:00 PM > FSMW/KMOX

Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2013 7:25 am
by abc789987
ViPeRx007 wrote:
abc789987 wrote:Hey, look at that. They don't give up 4 goals in the first period and they managed to win.

Anyways, kind of looked like we got outplayed again, but was bailed out by our goalie again. Is this what good teams do?
No, because the Blues aren't very good. They have a 20-6-3 record..bunch of losers.

Do I believe the Blues have been playing great lately? No, they've hit a bit of a lull. But for crying out loud, what kind of expectations do you have for these guys?
I was trying to say I was happy with us winning that game. They find a way to win the games that they probably should have lost. Last year we would have lost that game 1-0 but now we're getting it done.

Re: GDT #29: 12/10/13 > Blues @ Jets > 7:00 PM > FSMW/KMOX

Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2013 8:14 am
by dmiles2186
Oaklandblue wrote:
ViPeRx007 wrote:
abc789987 wrote:Hey, look at that. They don't give up 4 goals in the first period and they managed to win.

Anyways, kind of looked like we got outplayed again, but was bailed out by our goalie again. Is this what good teams do?
No, because the Blues aren't very good. They have a 20-6-3 record..bunch of losers.

Do I believe the Blues have been playing great lately? No, they've hit a bit of a lull. But for crying out loud, what kind of expectations do you have for these guys?
Our record sounds great, 20-6-3, and it is BUT the playoff format has changed.

Losing two games can knock us down out of even Wildcard position. It's VITAL that we win the games we can win. The format hasn't gotten easier, it's gotten much harder and we need to play accordingly. Coming out flat the last half dozen games is a recipe for trouble - that's the old way the Blues played and a tradition that needs to be taken out back and shot.

A better answer: To play like a team that spent to the Cap would be roughly my expectations. Stewart needs to go the frank a-frankin-way nowwww, Cracknell and Cole needs to stay, stay, stay, Bergy needs to be benched, Reaves needs to get well A to the SAP, Derek Roy needs more ice time because the guy does NOT dump pucks, Schwartz is a BEAST and everyone else is good or bloody fantastic.

I used to outright hate Halak and would have loved to see him traded for a bag of pucks, but the guys been awesome. Him and Ells are just MONEY in goal, it's not even funny.

But to properly answer the question, really answer it, here goes: I wish Hitch would not give preference to the veterans and do what's best for the team. He has this reputation which may be why Stewart gets played over SO MANY OTHERS just because he has years under his belt. He didn't play Tarasenko in the playoffs for similar stupid reasons. Isn't his job to win? Shouldn't players like Bergy and Stewart be made to ride pine? Where's the example here, or is it that the vets will always see things through, which is why we get old Dallas Stars players on the team? I'm seriously starting to wonder, because when he makes a few changes, BANG - we're rolling on all cylinders even if we're rusty and we're making things happen. When he doesn't, we get steamrolled unless players like Stewart decides tonight he'll make an effort. It's really pathetic and boils me.
Say what you want about Hitch and who is he playing and giving preference too, etc. Fact is, this team has played 29 games and they've got points in all of them but SIX. The only reason we're having this discussion now is because two weeks ago that number was three. So yes, obviously the last few weeks haven't been up to snuff, but step back and look at the big picture here. We're almost halfway through December with only 6 regulation losses. We have 20 wins already. Yes, Stewart sucks something fierce, but this is a good friggin' hockey team. Hitch knows what he's doing and all good teams go through some ups and downs. We're 10 games shy of the midway point of the season and we've already got 43 points with games in hand on almost everyone around us.

Like Viper said, what are the expectations here? If we can't enjoy one of the best Blues teams we've seen in a long time, then what the (Frank) can we enjoy?