Round Robin GDT #3: Stars @ Blues in Edmonton, 8/9/20, 12:00pm CDT, NBC/NHL TV

[gaijin]

From: https://www.nhl.com/news/dallas-stars-s ... 2019030016

The Dallas Stars and St. Louis Blues will battle for the No. 3 seed in the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference when they play their final game of the round-robin portion of the Stanley Cup Qualifiers at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Saturday.

The winner will play the No. 6 seed Calgary Flames in the Western Conference First Round in Edmonton, the Western hub city. The loser will play the No. 5 seed Vancouver Canucks.

Blues forward Vladimir Tarasenko is expected to play after being held out for precautionary reasons against the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday.

Defenseman John Klingberg is expected to play for Dallas after he was unfit to play against the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday. Stars goalie Ben Bishop returned to practice Saturday after missing their session Friday and could play against the Blues.

Here are 3 keys to the round-robin game:
1. Bring intensity
Coach Craig Berube was not happy with the Blues' lack of intensity in their first two round-robin games, a 2-1 loss to the Avalanche on Aug. 2 and a 6-4 loss to the Golden Knights on Thursday.
"I'm not sure that our guys have really brought the intensity to the first two games," Berube said. "The intensity level has to come way up, competing has to come way up. If you want to keep chasing the game, we'll keep playing that way. If we want to compete harder, we'll do a lot more with the puck."

2. Play a full 60 minutes
The Stars liked the first two periods of their 5-3 loss to the Golden Knights on Monday, but they lacked structure and a strong forecheck in the third period of that game as well as throughout their 4-0 loss to the Avalanche on Thursday.
"We need to play Dallas Stars hockey," coach Rick Bowness said. "We saw it for 40 minutes against Vegas. We need to see it for 60 minutes. If we do that, we'll feel good about ourselves, regardless of the outcome."

3. Get on the same page
The Blues had a players-only meeting on Friday to discuss their frustrations through the first two round-robin games.
"I mean, it's always good to get the whole group together, have a talk, get everyone on the same page," forward Zach Sanford said. Especially with veterans and leaders, they always have good input. It's good for us younger guys to hear what they're saying. Hopefully we're on the same page going into tomorrow."

Blues projected lineup
Jaden Schwartz -- Brayden Schenn -- Vladimir Tarasenko
Zach Sanford -- Ryan O'Reilly -- David Perron
Sammy Blais -- Robert Thomas -- Tyler Bozak
Mackenzie MacEachern -- Oskar Sundqvist -- Alexander Steen
Carl Gunnarsson -- Alex Pietrangelo
Marco Scandella -- Colton Parayko
Justin Faulk -- Robert Bortuzzo
Jake Allen
Jordan Binnington
Scratched: Ivan Barbashev, Troy Brouwer, Jacob de la Rose, Vince Dunn, Ville Husso, Klim Kostin, Jordan Kyrou, Niko Mikkola, Austin Poganski, Derrick Pouliot, Jake Walman
Unfit to play: None

Hopefully having Tarasenko and Thomas back in the lineup will make the difference.

[Robb_K]

It's time for The REAL Blues to show up!!!

[theohall]

While the NBC crew is bragging about the Stars start - where were the Stars shots coming from? Big point to me - the Blues forwards weren't blowing the zone like they've been doing in the prior 3 games and were supporting the defense - both protecting the net and working to clear the zone together - even if it took multiple tries.

Great shot by Thomas!

[Robb_K]

3 on 2 and Thomas blows the puck by the goalie!!!! Blues lead 1-0 on their first shot!!!

[Robb_K]

Good kill!

[Robb_K]

The Blues are looking WORSE in every successive game, after starting off after their 4-month break, out of shape and with their timing off. It seems those 2 aspects are getting worse, rather than better, which should come naturally. They'd better get more determined to just dominate, and win this game ugly, by hustle and hard hitting, only. Virtually EVERY pass has been way off. They overskate the puck, and lose almost all races to the puck.

And Dunn scores!!!! Blues with a very ugly 2-0 lead!!!!

[Robb_K]

Naturally, it was offside. At last fate, which has been very nasty to The Blues over the years, allowed them to finally win The Stanley Cup. Playing so badly so far, they really needed that goal badly. They can't let the losing of that goal bring a letdown. They've GOT to score a goal on this power play!

[Robb_K]

There was good movement on that power play. Comeau went down awfully easily on that weak call penalty.

[Robb_K]

Lousy period for The Blues. Luckily, The Stars also weren't very good. At least they started getting their timing back on their passes on that late short power play. I keep waiting for them to wake up the past 4 games plus this one. I hope they can do that in The 2nd.

[theohall]

For all the talk of the NBC announcers - Dallas only managed 6 shots on goal. The Blues aren't playing worse. They are finally playing their system with 5 man support in all zones - not the defenseman in the d-zone looking for forwards beyond center. Not forwards watching defenseman try to make one-on-one plays in their own zone. Not forwards trying to make plays in the o-zone without defensive support. Those last 3 sentences were what the Blues had been doing in the prior 3 games.

The Blues don't win pretty. They win ugly by being a strong defensive team, first, and that's what we are seeing. You just won't hear it from this NBC crew...

With Comeau's dive, at least we know one official who won't be officiating any more in the playoffs. The ref turned around and saw Comeau's feet in the air and raised his arm. He never saw a penalty being committed, because his back was turned before Comeau started the dive. This is where the other three officials (including the linesmen) should be able to correct a blatantly blown call.

[ibldbl]

Too many penalties.

[Robb_K]

Super point-blank save by Allen!! But The Blues can't hold onto the puck for mor than a second or two, so they end up continuously chasing the puck. And because they are still slow at skating (out of condition) - and out of position, they keep taking penalties. Good thing Allen is playing well and The Stars are the only team less able to score than The Blues. But The Blues will likely be skating in mud in The 3rd because of having to play shorthanded so much. They'll probably need some good luck to win this game.

Now they are on the PP. They've GOT to score now!!!

[theohall]

Too many penalties is true - but at least 3 of them shouldn't have been penalties if this were a competent NHL officiating crew.

I'll be surprised if Kozari and Pochmara do any more games.

[Robb_K]

Let's SCORE on this PP!!!

[Portland Blues]

Good lord...knew the tying goal was coming in the final minute.

[ibldbl]

Good lord...knew the tying goal was coming in the final minute.

Yup. Blues are completely worn out. No legs. Just standing around.

[Portland Blues]

Good lord...knew the tying goal was coming in the final minute.

Yup. Blues are completely worn out. No legs. Just standing around.

Not really feeling like it's our year again. Would love to be surprised but if all these years have taught us anything it's expect the worst.

[gaijin]

Whelp, that sucked. 0-3 in the Round Robin games. In each game, the Blues had the lead going into the 3rd Period and lost.

Bring on the Canucks I guess.

[theohall]

No sustained offensive zone pressure at all. They were better on their own side of center, when they weren't mishandling the puck, but the offensive zone support disappeared. On one of the power plays - Schwartz is between two Stars trying to work the puck free and two Blues players both skate away from Schwartz, instead of engaging and actually working to win the puck. What's nuts, Schwartz got the puck 3 times, before the Stars were able to get it away from him and with any closer support, the Blues PP stays in the zone. Instead, it became an easy clear for the Stars. They worked on their own side of center, but that seemed completely opposite beyond center.

[flyingnote38]

not the effort or the outcome we were hoping for.

looks like the Blues have 'opted out'

no real sustained effort on offense

not sure how Vancouver looked in their play in series, but if we don't suddenly find some drive, and gas, and discipline
we're not going to have to worry about who our second round foe could be