GDT #11: 11/03/16 | 7:30PM CST | @ Stars | FSMW/KMOX

[theohall]

Chat with us here: BEST DAMN BLUES CHATZY EVER 2016-2017

The last time the St. Louis Blues and Dallas Stars met on the ice was in Game 7 of their second-round playoff series last spring.

The Blues left American Airlines Center with a 6-1 victory and their first trip to the Western Conference Finals since 2001.

Dallas, which was the West's top seed, was left to ponder what could have been in its first trip to the second round since 2008.

These teams will renew their Central Division rivalry on Thursday night in downtown Dallas, but neither club is fixated on what happened just over six months ago. Instead, the Blues and Stars are focused on simply winning a game.

St. Louis (5-3-2) lost 5-0 to the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday. Aside from a 6-4 win at Calgary on Oct. 22, the Blues have scored just five goals over the last 366:40, a sure sign they have deviated from their formula for recent success.

"We got to kind of stop the bleeding and get back to what works," Blues forward Paul Stastny said after the loss in New York. "And we know what works for us, it's playing that grind game, that puck-possession game. When we do that, we're supporting each other, we're all playing together and when we're not, we're trying to make too many fancy plays and we get caught on our heels and put too much pressure on our goalies to bail us out."

The Blues might be without captain Alex Pietrangelo, who sustained a lower-body injury against the Rangers. Pietrangelo did not skate on Wednesday morning but St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock said after practice that Pietrangelo would be further evaluated at morning skate on Thursday in Dallas.

St. Louis has lost three of its last four games and the Blues are 2-2-1 on the road this season.

Dallas (3-4-2), on the other hand, heads into this contest on a three-game winless streak (0-2-1) after a 3-2 overtime loss at Columbus on Tuesday. The Stars started their three-game road trip with a 4-1 loss at Winnipeg last Thursday followed by a 4-0 loss at Minnesota two days later.

But despite seeing his team winless since a 3-2 home win against Winnipeg last Tuesday, Stars coach Lindy Ruff feels Dallas has been playing well recently, final scores notwithstanding.

"I think we're looking at a game (against St. Louis) where they're going to be an extremely desperate team. They lost a big one last night (Tuesday) and we've lost three in a row now," Ruff said. "I think our last two games are really close to where we need to be. I thought we beat ourselves at the end (against Columbus), we didn't do that last year."

Ruff said any lingering ill will or bad taste from that seven-game playoff defeat to the Blues last spring is long gone.

Gritty Stars forward Antoine Roussel disagrees, however.

"Well, I'm pretty excited. It's been a long summer," Roussel said. "They stuck it to us last year, we're still pretty (angry) about that. They are a good team. It's going to be a battle. We need those points more than they do."

Ruff might be happy from a big-picture standpoint about how the Stars are playing right now, but there is one area he knows has to be a lot better: goaltending.

Dallas' veteran Finnish tandem of Kari Lehtonen (1-3-1, .900 save percentage, 2.65 GAA) and Antti Niemi (2-1-1, .893, 3.65) have both endured their share of struggles.

But Ruff knows that if the Stars are to again be a factor in the West, Lehtonen and Niemi both need to step up their game and start making big saves.

"We need our goaltending to be better. Those two guys know they need to be better," Ruff said.

Blues • The Blues are in Dallas for the first of four meetings against the Stars this season. ... Thursday will be the first time the teams have seen each other since the Blues’ seven-game win over Dallas in the second round of the Western Conference playoffs. ... Jake Allen will get the start in net for the Blues, his ninth in 11 games. ... Alex Pietrangelo is questionable for the game after suffering a lower-body injury Tuesday.

Stars • Dallas enters Thursday’s matchup looking to snap a three-game winless skid in which it has gone 0-2-1. ... The Stars led the NHL with 3.23 goals per game in the regular season a year ago. This season, they rank No. 27th in the league with 2.22 per game, just ahead of the No. 28 Blues (2.20). ... Goaltending was an issue for the Stars in last year’s playoffs and it has been again. Kari Lehtonen is 1-3-1 with a .900 save percentage and Antti Niemi is 2-1-1 with an .893.

Injuries • Blues — D Alex Pietrangelo (lower-body) questionable; D Robert Bortuzzo (lower-body), out. Stars — RW Ales Hemsky (hip), LW Patrick Sharp (concussion), C Mattias Janmark (knee) and C Cody Eakin (knee), out.

Blues team scope

St. Louis Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo will play after he had his leg tangled up with New York Rangers forward J.T. Miller on Tuesday and missing practice Wednesday. "Good to go. Little bit of a scare," Pietrangelo said. "But I got a little bit of treatment yesterday and it worked." The Blues have won seven of their past nine games at American Airlines Center, including three in the Western Conference Second Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season. "This was a very intimidating building when I first came to St. Louis, players would make comment that they felt like we were skating uphill," coach Kevin Hitchcock said. "There isn't the intimidation factor anymore. We figured out a way to play them." Goalie Jake Allen will start after allowing four goals on 20 shots before being pulled for Carter Hutton during a 5-0 loss to the Rangers.

Stars team scope

Dallas Stars forward Jiri Hudler won't play because of an illness; coach Lindy Ruff said they are waiting on the test results. Hudler previously missed five games with an illness until returning to the lineup on Oct. 29. The Stars face the Blues for the first time since losing Game 7 of the second round. "They got in the way of what we were trying to do last year," captain Jamie Benn said. "What better way to start the first meeting between us this year with us getting in their way." The Stars have scored three goals during a three-game losing streak, including a 3-2 overtime loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday. "I think the last two games have been more of the game we want to play," Benn said. "It was unfortunate how it ended, but I think we are working in the right direction." Goalie Antti Niemi will start after making 25 saves against Columbus.

Blues projected lineup

Alexander Steen -- Patrik Berglund -- David Perron
Jaden Schwartz -- Jori Lehtera -- Vladimir Tarasenko
Robby Fabbri -- Paul Stastny -- Nail Yakupov
Scottie Upshall -- Kyle Brodziak -- Ryan Reaves

Jay Bouwmeester -- Alex Pietrangelo
Carl Gunnarsson -- Kevin Shattenkirk
Joel Edmundson -- Colton Parayko

Jake Allen
Carter Hutton

Scratched: Ty Rattie, Brad Hunt, Dimitri Jaskin
Injured: Robert Bortuzzo (lower body)

Stars projected lineup

Jamie Benn -- Tyler Seguin -- Patrick Eaves
Antoine Roussel -- Radek Faksa -- Jason Spezza
Lauri Korpikoski -- Devin Shore -- Brett Ritchie
Curtis McKenzie -- Gemel Smith -- Adam Cracknell

Johnny Oduya -- Stephen Johns
Esa Lindell -- John Klingberg
Dan Hamhuis -- Jordie Benn

Antti Niemi
Kari Lehtonen

Scratched: Patrik Nemeth, Jamie Oleksiak
Injured: Patrick Sharp (concussion), Mattias Janmark (knee), Cody Eakin (knee), Ales Hemsky (groin), Jiri Hudler (illness)

Status report

McKenzie is back in the lineup for the Stars after being scratched against the Blue Jackets. … Upshall enters the Blues' lineup after sitting the past two games.

Who's hot

Seguin has three goals in his past four games. … Stastny has seven points (three goals, four assists) in his past five games against the Stars.

This day in history:
1968: Camille Henry scored 1st hat trick in Blues franchise history.
1987: Mark McGwire wins AL Rookie of the Year.
2003: Grant Fuhr inducted into Hockey Hall of Fame.
2007: David Perron scored his 1st NHL goal.

[theohall]

And we know what works for us, it's playing that grind game, that puck-possession game.

That's the friggin' problem. Too much focus on possession, not enough on generating quality scoring chances. Heck, lots of goals this season other teams are scoring aren't after extended possession. They are off of quick passes and quickly getting to the net, not playing puck-possession, grind games. The Rangers - 3 of their 5 goals were quick passes with very little possession time, but don't tell the Blues, their leaders or their coaching staff this. Just so you all can see this from the Rangers game:

1st goal - Rangers had the puck less than 10 seconds
2nd goal - Rangers PP, Blues don't make the clear when they had the chance, goal in less than 10 seconds after failed clear.
3rd goal - Rangers had puck less than 10 seconds.
4th goal - PP - first extended possession leading to a goal
5th goal - another turnover, Rangers had puck less than 10 seconds.

Anyone see the theme? Get the puck on net quick, not hold the puck and just keep pointless possession. Instead, we get one of the Blues Assistant Captains talking about grinding and puck possession.

Hopefully, we'll see some offense, but I'm not confident that's going to happen given what Stastny is saying and this staff's propensity to over-rely on the possession aspect of the game, instead of focusing on generating offense. Yes, the team has to have the puck, but they don't have to have it for extended stretches to generate chances. And chances that are quickly generated, vice the methodical crap we see from the Blues, usually lead to better chances since it pressures the D and doesn't let them setup defensively, as the Rags did to the Blues.

I actually picked the Stars to win this game, in spite of their injuries, because the Blues and their staff aren't even talking about the right things given this roster. This isn't a "grinding" roster, Paul.

[gaijin]

Sounds like the coaches have decided on the system they want and that's that, rather than evaluate the capabilities of the team and determine what system will be most effective based on where the team's strengths lie. I guess that's worked for some teams before.

2 points, please.

[ibldbl]

Haven't seen anything good in quite a while. Don't expect any different.

Dallas Uterus' - 3
Blues - 1

[theohall]

They've got a lot of confidence playing in Dallas, where they've won seven of their last nine games, including three of four in last year's second round playoff series.

Lines like that from another pre-game article bother me. What was the Blues record going into Edmonton this season? Hadn't the Blues won a ridiculous number of games against them? 19 wins 5 losses since 2010 before the loss this season. So why will Dallas be any different with the Blues offense having completely dried up? During those 7 of 9 wins, they were averaging 3.8 goals per game. Currently, they are averaging 2.2 goals per game.

I remember back in the day Brian Sutter saying as long as the team scores 3 goals, they should win. Goaltending and defense should be good enough to give any team a win if the offense can provide 3 goals. Well, that clearly isn't the case for the Blues this season. The goaltending has been there for the most part - 6 of Allen's 8 starts he's allowed 2 goals or less. One of those 2 bad starts, the Blues offense actually showed up to get the W (Calgary). The problem is no offense in 3 of the 6 good starts.

[glen a richter]

I had a well thought out post outlining the reasons the Blues presently suck and why they probably won't win tonight and the browser reset and deleted the post.

Stars 6
Blues 1

[ComradeT]

I had a well thought out post outlining the reasons the Blues presently suck and why they probably won't win tonight and the dog ate my homework.

Stars 6
Blues 1

FTFY

[glen a richter]

The basic gist was that not too long ago, the western conference dominated the eastern conference in terms of physicality which the east couldn't compensate for. Many teams, in both conferences, adjusted--notably the Rangers who are fast as lightning out there and make things happen. As the style of hockey is changing and adjustments were made, we're seeing teams win rolling 4 lines that can score, playing fast end to end hockey, quick transitions and not having to lean so much on physicality. There's a lot of skill out there. Hitchcock (and Yeo) refuse to adjust, rather choosing to be stuck in a mentality from the past which worked fine up until recently, but will be less and less successful moving forward. 6 of the last 7 games this team has scored 1 or 0 goals. Unacceptable. They have the personnel to do way better than that and to be much, much more competitive. As time marches on, playing with this philosophy will lead to worse playoff seedings followed by missed playoffs, and when we do make it to the postseason, it'll be continued early exits--make no mistake last year was a fluke. A double post and a lucky deflection away from a 1st round exit and Tyler Seguin away from a 2nd round exit.

Until we have a coach who understands the changing game, we'll be stuck in mediocrity. Tonight won't be an exception.

[Robb_K]

Stastny backhands the rebound in!!! 1-1 Tie!!!

But Klingberg scores right after. Boo!

[Robb_K]

Stastny should have scored on that great feed by Fabbri. The Blues are just going through the motions.

[Krigloch the Furious]

This team really isn't good at all.
Total lack of talent

Sent from my R2 unit

[Robb_K]

I'm not feeling very good about this team at this point in time. I hope they do something to shake things up.

Even if they'd have gotten Hall for Shattenkirk, and still, later made the trade for Yakupov, they'd still be a mess like they are now.

[Toasted Oates]

We'll always have that 3-0 start.

Seriously, though, I'd be curious to see how they would respond if Hitchcock wasn't there. May do nothing, but it may be a relief to the entire club. What is the risk at this point? Won't happen because of the KH/DA bromance but I can dream.

Free Tarasenko from his Jori Lehtera shackles. Again, where's the risk? They're not scoring anyway. Give me 20-26-91 or 20-17-91 or 15-26-91 as a top line.

The Blues suck right now and the frightening thing is they're completely healthy. Still a long ways to go, though.

[heff]

Blues gave up size and somehow ended up less skilled, and now lack the testicular fortitude to make me at least feel okay about being on the business end of an ass-kicking.

[theohall]

Blues gave up size and somehow ended up less skilled, and now lack the testicular fortitude to make me at least feel okay about being on the business end of an ass-kicking.

It's refusal by the coaching staff to rely on that skill. Just read the stuff in the GDT opening post. Assistant Captain Paul Statsny states this team needs to win with grinding and possession. Teams with skill shouldn't have to rely on grinding at all. And the possession thing is a joke given how many goals are being scored by teams who unshackle their skill by having them forecheck without possession so mercilessly they force turnovers which turn into quick goals. The Blues are barely forechecking at all.

Last season, there was a pre-season video in which Hithcock turned the offense over to Shaw and Muller. The result was the Blues fore-checked more aggressively, focused more on getting the puck to the front of the net, and had a better offense. Those two coaches are now gone and have been replaced with defensive-minded, possession coaches who don't get the changes evident throughout the league today. The Blues are what Darryl Sutter hates. Without the puck, they are 5 guys skating backward in the neutral zone while being slow and methodical when trying to move the puck up ice, because - god forbid - can't risk losing possession. The Rangers countered this with an aggressive two-man forecheck pressuring the puck carrier and the closest outlet. The result was turnovers and goals without exteneded possessions. The Lightning are similarly aggressive with their forecheck only they focus on taking the outlets away without the immediate pressure on the puck carrier. Both teams are very aggressive in keeping their forwards in front of the center redline even without the puck while also having their D play up as much as possible to break up neutral zone play before it gets in their zone when the forwards haven't forced the turnover. This puts a large amount of pressure on the defensive corps for these teams and they can get burned by it - as evidenced by the Lightnings two most recent losses. But - risk/reward. The Blues could do the same, but insist on playing a defense-first, possession game which shackles speed and skill. On top of that, the offensive zone play is so focused on possession, rarely do we see the Blues getting to the front of the net or playing in front of the goal line like they did last season. Too much focus on everyone covering the board play and not enough on playing between the circles.

[gaijin]

It's been a long time since we've had to use this:

[Oaklandblue]

Nothing is going to happen to anyone. Stillman probably looks at this as a slump and that the team will bounce back. This is the team that made the WCF in their mind, so they won't worry about it til they're out of the playoffs. And if it goes bad, they got Yeo in the wings, so expect at least two years of this. The one thing I see clearly is that Stillman has no idea what is going on in front of him. Financially, he's the man. Operations-wise, this lack of foresight is as bad, if not worse, as what the coaching staff/GM is running.

I said it before and I'll say it again, trading off Shatt is a bad idea and I'll go so far as to call it suicide. You trade him, we are not making the playoffs; the style of play they are coaching and running + the abilities of this team equals as much. Under this system, He is showing up and the system is not going to change.

Where did all the hoo-rah about this team suddenly go? A week ago I had Glen talking trash. Suddenly we're in despair mode?

Y'all been Blues fans long enough, yall should know how the Army-Hitch Game goes.

[gaijin]

Where did all the hoo-rah about this team suddenly go? A week ago I had Glen talking trash. Suddenly we're in despair mode?

It quickly went the same way as our offense- into the void. It isn't surprising, really. For many years, we've all said offense was this team's biggest area that needed improvement. The first 3-4 games of the year, we were scoring. As a result, the Blues were winning, and looking solid while doing so. The longer they have been trying to implement this "system," the worse they've played, the less they've scored, the less they've won. Hence, the more dissatisfied we've all become with the product on the ice. And this is what we're supposed to have for the next several years?

[glen a richter]

It's not Allen's fault they can't score. The system is a complete mess.

[theohall]

And, oh joy, now the Blues get Columbus who walloped the Canadiens 10-0 last night.

As to why the despair now...

They started the season with the power play working and scoring goals in 5-on-5. The more this coaching staff has implemented their system, since getting everyone back from the World Cup, the worse the team has gotten. As the offense has dried up playing the system, the coaching staff is re-emphasizing their system which didn't work in seasons prior to last season in the playoffs and isn't working again now with the missing offensive aspect Shaw and Muller implemented last season. What they were doing last season is non-existent in the style of play we are seeing now. No significant forechecking (zero two-man pressure), focus on possession first over getting to the front of the net, focus on board play instead of mid-ice play, no focus on getting to the net quickly, no focus on playing above the goal line. All of the above the Blues did last season. Changing 3 players (2 forwards and a goalie) shouldn't have that kind of impact. Changing coaches - different story. This is Hitchcock with Wilson and Yeo implementing what hasn't worked and insisting it will in spite of the evidence to the contrary around the league.

The new winning strategy (Penguins, Sharks, Rangers, Lightning) is using speed to aggressively forecheck and getting the puck on net in 10 seconds or less, not possessing the puck more than the other team. Berglund, Stastny, and Lehtera are all over 50% on faceoffs, so that get the puck first thing clearly doesn't matter on it's own. It's how quickly something is done to get it on net which isn't happening.