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GDT #80: 4/10/14 > Blues @ Wild > 7:00 PM > NBCSN/KMOX

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2014 6:31 am
by dmiles2186
I haven't dreaded a Blues game like this in quite a while.
BLUES (52-20-7) at WILD (42-26-12)

TV: NBCSN, TSN2

Last 10: St. Louis 5-5-0; Minnesota 6-3-1

Season series: This is the fifth and final game. The St. Louis Blues have won all four games against the Minnesota Wild, including each of two games at Xcel Energy Center, where the Wild are 14-7-5 all-time against the Blues.

Big story: The Blues are ahead of the Wild in the standings, but they have much more at stake Thursday. The Wild clinched the top wild-card spot in the Western Conference's Stanley Cup Playoff race with a 4-3 shootout win against the Boston Bruins on Tuesday. The Blues (111 points) are two points ahead of the Colorado Avalanche for the Central Division title and are also locked in a race with the Anaheim Ducks and San Jose Sharks for the top seed in the West.

Team Scope:

Blues: St. Louis, which until recently had the best record in the NHL, has lost three games in a row and trails Boston by three points in the race for the Presidents' Trophy. With five wins in their past 10 games, the Blues are in danger of having the Avalanche, who are 7-1-2 in their past 10, pass them and claim the top spot in the Central. The team that wins the division will avoid a first-round playoff series against the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks.

Wild: Unlike last season, when Minnesota backed into the playoffs on the regular season's final day, the Wild are rolling right now. Minnesota has taken at least a point in seven of its past 10 games, opening up a healthy lead for a wild-card spot on the Dallas Stars and Phoenix Coyotes before clinching a berth Tuesday.

"Last year, it was disappointing how we made the playoffs," defenseman Ryan Suter said after the game Tuesday night. "This year, we've been playing well and played ourself into the playoffs the way that you want to."

Who's hot: St. Louis forward Alexander Steen, who returned Tuesday from an upper-body injury that cost him three games, has three goals and seven points in his past six games. He leads the Blues with 33 goals and 60 points despite missing 14 games with an injury earlier this season. … Minnesota forward Erik Haula has flourished on the second line in place of injured Mikael Granlund. The rookie has a point in four of his past five games and five points (two goals, three assists) in eight games.

Injury report: Blues forwards David Backes (lower-body) and Vladimir Tarasenko (hand) are out. … Wild forwards Mikael Granlund (upper body) and Jason Zucker (quad), defensemen Clayton Stoner (knee) and Keith Ballard (groin) and goaltenders Darcy Kuemper (upper body), Josh Harding (illness) and Niklas Backstrom (abdominal) are expected to miss the game.

Re: GDT #80: 4/10/14 > Blues @ Wild > 7:00 PM > NBCSN/KMOX

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2014 6:43 am
by gaijin
Ok boys, show us how much you want the Central Division title.

2 points, please. :letsgoblues:

Re: GDT #80: 4/10/14 > Blues @ Wild > 7:00 PM > NBCSN/KMOX

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2014 7:00 am
by dmiles2186
Also, it should be noted that Anaheim won last night, clinching the Pacific division title, and passing us up in points. They're at 112 to our 111.

Tonight, the Avs take on the Canucks at 9. So when tonight is over, it's entirely possible we could be in 2nd place in the Central, or 1st place in the West.

Re: GDT #80: 4/10/14 > Blues @ Wild > 7:00 PM > NBCSN/KMOX

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2014 7:06 am
by flyingnote38
With 3 games left, the Blues still control their own destiny in the West with their magic number for the division being 5 points and for the conference 6.

The sharks 'clinched' a worse record than the Blues last night leaving the Ducks, Aves, Pens, and Bruins as the only 4 teams that could finish with a better record than the Blues. The Blues would need alot of help to best the Bruins for the President's Trophy sitting 3 points back with 3 each to go and Boston holding the tie-breaker. Of course the best help would be to not worry about the Bruins and roll off a three game winning streak to end the season.

Tarasenko's hand surgery was 22 days ago (ie 3 weeks ago yesterday) with an initial announcement of a reassessment in "6 weeks". He should be able to be conditioning prior to that point, but we will need to right the ship without him as barring a major change in his treatment plan, he won't be available for another 3 weeks.

Re: GDT #80: 4/10/14 > Blues @ Wild > 7:00 PM > NBCSN/KMOX

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2014 8:16 am
by cardsfan04
From what I've been hearing, Tarasenko is ahead of schedule, possibly WAY ahead. He's been skating in practices for awhile now and has even started stick handling. Somebody on Twitter suggested he could possibly be back BEFORE round 1 starts, but that seems unrealistically optimistic. But, I've heard a number of others suggest he could be back before the end of round 1. That would be huge.

Re: GDT #80: 4/10/14 > Blues @ Wild > 7:00 PM > NBCSN/KMOX

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2014 9:06 am
by kodos
The team actually has something to play for now. Now we see if they were just phoning it in because they had nothing to play for, or if they have true deep problems.

Losing the Central is a very very real possibility now. Very very real.

I don't care about the Presidents trophy. 1st in the West would be great, but more than anything, WIN THE ****ING CENTRAL.

This entire great regular season will be right in the S*** CAN if they screw this up in the last week.

Re: GDT #80: 4/10/14 > Blues @ Wild > 7:00 PM > NBCSN/KMOX

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2014 12:26 pm
by WaukeeBlues
Need more goals...

Let's Go Blues!

Re: GDT #80: 4/10/14 > Blues @ Wild > 7:00 PM > NBCSN/KMOX

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2014 1:14 pm
by crazyhorse
Backes in walking cast!

Re: GDT #80: 4/10/14 > Blues @ Wild > 7:00 PM > NBCSN/KMOX

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2014 1:43 pm
by cprice12
crazyhorse wrote:Backes in walking cast!
He'll miss the last 3 games and then he'll play in the playoffs... or so says Hitch.

Re: GDT #80: 4/10/14 > Blues @ Wild > 7:00 PM > NBCSN/KMOX

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2014 2:42 pm
by cprice12
I think it's worth mentioning that Hitch has said that he more or less isn't that concerned with wins and losses right now...but how the team is playing and responding to things...and he wants the team to be ready to go for the playoffs.

You'd think if the team is playing well and responding well to situations, that they'd actually be winning...but whatever.

I'm so ready for the end of this reg. season. I don't care that much about the last 3 games. Yes, I want them to win the division and the West, but I just want the playoffs to get here and the Blues to start winning games when they really count.

Let's just win tonight and have Colorado lose in Vancouver...and that all but wraps up the division with a 4 pt. lead with 2 games to go. That will get people off the edge of the bridge.

Re: GDT #80: 4/10/14 > Blues @ Wild > 7:00 PM > NBCSN/KMOX

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2014 3:31 pm
by Rocketpop
Prediction: Blues score more than one goal.

Re: GDT #80: 4/10/14 > Blues @ Wild > 7:00 PM > NBCSN/KMOX

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2014 5:05 pm
by STLADOGG
From NHL.com
Here are the projected lineups:

BLUES

Alexander Steen - Vladimir Sobotka - T.J. Oshie

Dmitrij Jaskin - Patrik Berglund - Jaden Schwartz

Brenden Morrow - Derek Roy - Steve Ott

Chris Porter - Maxim Lapierre - Ryan Reaves

Jay Bouwmeester - Alex Pietrangelo

Barret Jackman - Roman Polak

Carlo Colaiacovo - Kevin Shattenkirk

Ryan Miller

Brian Elliott

Scratched: Jordan Leopold, Ian Cole, Magnus Paajarvi

Injured: David Backes (left foot), Vladimir Tarasenko (thumb)
So Jaskin and Porter play before Paajarvi? Interesting.

Re: GDT #80: 4/10/14 > Blues @ Wild > 7:00 PM > NBCSN/KMOX

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2014 7:44 pm
by Rocketpop
I'm beginning to think I was completely wrong about Halak... I mean, wildly inconsistent has to be better than consistently mediocre-at-best.

Re: GDT #80: 4/10/14 > Blues @ Wild > 7:00 PM > NBCSN/KMOX

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2014 7:48 pm
by STLADOGG
This game is Ass backwards.

Re: GDT #80: 4/10/14 > Blues @ Wild > 7:00 PM > NBCSN/KMOX

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2014 8:08 pm
by Nyghtewynd
We are seriously at the point where it's fair to ask if you should fire Hitch in order to attempt to salvage the season. If they bomb out, he'll certainly be fired. I don't think I would, but I'd think about it. This season has come completely off of the rails.

Re: GDT #80: 4/10/14 > Blues @ Wild > 7:00 PM > NBCSN/KMOX

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2014 8:28 pm
by Krigloch the Furious
These guys suck
They are playing like the worst team in the league. Getting owned by a piece of crap goalie.

Re: GDT #80: 4/10/14 > Blues @ Wild > 7:00 PM > NBCSN/KMOX

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2014 8:30 pm
by KPFBlue
Ott and lapierre have been the worst players on the ice the last three games. Veteran leadership is a mirage

Re: GDT #80: 4/10/14 > Blues @ Wild > 7:00 PM > NBCSN/KMOX

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2014 8:38 pm
by not_a_wings_fan
Winning everywhere except the score.

These last few games really highlight the lack of an elite scorer or two on this team.

Let's just hope the bad luck is all used up in these shitty games and we bury pucks come the real season.

Is miller as bad as his line in the box score tonight? Is this just a matter of the limited chances were high quality or are these softies?

Re: GDT #80: 4/10/14 > Blues @ Wild > 7:00 PM > NBCSN/KMOX

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2014 8:40 pm
by flyingnote38
Well that's a new low.

Get the giant fork ready..........

Re: GDT #80: 4/10/14 > Blues @ Wild > 7:00 PM > NBCSN/KMOX

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2014 8:41 pm
by dmiles2186
This team was undefeated in regulation against the Central division just a few weeks ago. They now have 5 (I believe). Something has happened to this team. It's not just Tarasenko, it's not Steen's injury (and now Backes and possibly Osh). Losing while playing OUR game is one thing. We're not. We don't look remotely the same.