GDT #38: Blues vs G. Knights | 7:00 pm CT | BSMW, 101 ESPN

[theohall]

About the Golden Knights: Still among the NHL’s elite teams, with a 24-10-2 record and 50 points, Vegas is getting pushed for the second spot in the West Division by Minnesota, which defeated the Knights in a shootout Thursday and in regulation Saturday. Vegas has won only two of its last six games (2-3-1) and is averaged just 2.17 goals per game in that stretch. But the Knights are close to perfect against the Blues this season – 3-0-1 – and breaking open two close games recently with four-goal third periods in 5-1 victories.

Vegas ranks second only to Colorado in the NHL in team defense, yielding 2.28 goals per game. The Golden Knights are sixth in penalty-killing efficiency (84.5%). Zach Whitecloud and former Blue Ryan Reaves have undisclosed injuries and did not play Saturday. Chandler Stephenson is out Monday, serving the last of a three-game suspension for elbowing Los Angeles’ Tobias Bjornfort.

[gaijin]

Pietrangelo is not listed as out, so I'm guessing he is in the lineup tonight? First time playing back in StL, correct?

Good thing we let that scrub walk, so that he could make Vegas one of the top defenses in the league.

[glen a richter]

I hope they don’t do something stupid like trade the 1st rounder for a rental.

[Portland Blues]

The way this season is shaping up I predict after 1 period it will be Blues 1 - Vegas 0, and the game will end Blues 1 - Vegas 5.

[Robb_K]

Great shot by Bozak on that wraparound backhander!!! Blues trail by one!!!

[Robb_K]

Not a very good 1si Period for The Blues. They've been scored against first by the other team in 12 of the last 13 games. They're lucky to be behind by only 1 goal. They'd better pick it up.

[glen a richter]

Let's just go for the best possible draft spot at this point because this is fooking pathetic.

[Robb_K]

The Blues are terrible on defence. And their problems with dealing with opponents' forechecks is getting worse and worse. They can't skate or pass the puck out of their own zone. And now, they can't even ice the puck out of the zone. Still, Husso had a few bad goals, and I'm wondering whether he is not an NHL-level backup.

[Robb_K]

Things look bad for The Blues right now. They have a very tough schedule, and can't afford many losses while they are trying to get back their team-play groove. We just have to hope they can sneak into the last playoff spot, ahead of Arizona, and hope they play a LOT better in The Playoffs.

[gaijin]

The way this season is shaping up I predict after 1 period it will be Blues 1 - Vegas 0, and the game will end Blues 1 - Vegas 5.

See, look how wrong you ended up being. What a terrible prediction.

[theohall]

oh no... i read twitter... read a bunch of comments about Hoffman and the Blues are "using him wrong". Question to those here? How are the Blues supposed to use him?

1st line - he sucked, repeatedly turning the puck over in his own end, leading to him being demoted.
2nd line - he sucked, repeatedly turning the puck over in his own end, leading to him being promoted to the 1st line in the next game.
3rd line - he can't play defense so that didn't work, but that's where he's been most of the season.
4th line - don't recall him being put there, yet.

The only games Hoffman was effective was when the opponent allowed him time and space - in other words - against the bad teams. That's not going to happen vs Vegas, Minnesota, and Colorado.

While that seemed like it would be a good fit when signed, it's proven out completely otherwise. He's too much of a detriment when forced to play in his own end of the ice.

[WaukeeBlues]

This team is quickly imploding.

The Parayko injury has been devastating to say the least. I cannot believe he played last night. He was a -3 and shouldn't have been out there. You can say "he hasn't played in a while" but his lack of assertiveness was glaring. Just shut him down. I hope he doesn't need surgery and his career isn't over but I guess we'll see. I hope we don't but if we lose Parayko, the new #1 RD, after letting our prior #1 RD go in free agency, 16 games into the season, that would be the most St. Louis Blues thing ever...

Mike Hoffman: Many prognosticators were dubious about the match between him and Berube when he was signed and that has appeared to bear fruit. If the Blues can't get something going here PDQ, we should look to trade him at the deadline for something, anything. Maybe eat half his salary in the process if it's feasible to do it.

Surprised and disheartened with this team. We've averaged a goal a game in my recently living memory, can't play defense either... just unreal.

[gaijin]

This team is quickly imploding.

Surprised and disheartened with this team. We've averaged a goal a game in my recently living memory, can't play defense either... just unreal.

It seems the more players return from injury, the worse the team gets. Honestly, what the hell?

Schwartz is back, Thomas is back, Tarasenko is back, Bozak is back, Barbashev is back, Parayko is back. Everyone is back except Sunny, who will not return this year. Yesterday's game against Vegas was the healthiest the Blues will ever be this year.

[Portland Blues]

The way this season is shaping up I predict after 1 period it will be Blues 1 - Vegas 0, and the game will end Blues 1 - Vegas 5.

See, look how wrong you ended up being. What a terrible prediction.

I was trying to be optimistic.

[glen a richter]

I struggle to buy the shit that it's a strange year because it's strange for everyone. This team has simply imploded.

The questions need to be asked:
1) Did Army screw up by picking Krug over Pietrangelo? The answer seems like a resounding yes.
2) Was Binnington a one hit wonder who got his money and now he's going to languish as just a serviceable starting goalie and not an elite? The answer seems like a maybe.
3) Has Berube lost the team and should he be replaced? The answer also seems like a maybe.

2019 seems like eons ago and it may be time to consider one window closed and time to start working on opening up the next one because with all the talent on this team, the play is inexcusably awful. Hell, they can't even fuggin' rally to win for Bobby.

[theohall]

1) Did Army screw up by picking Krug over Pietrangelo? The answer seems like a resounding yes.
2) Was Binnington a one hit wonder who got his money and now he's going to languish as just a serviceable starting goalie and not an elite? The answer seems like a maybe.
3) Has Berube lost the team and should he be replaced? The answer also seems like a maybe.

1) If Parayko were healthy, Krug might still have worked. With the way Faulk has played most of this season and a healthy Parayko, the defense would likely be better. While everyone calls it Krug vs Petro, Krug is a LD, not right - so it's kind of the wrong comparison. The expectation was for Parayko to step up and Krug would essentially be replacing Bouwmeester.

2) Agreed on the maybe, but the goaltending ties to the defense.

3) Berube being shackled with forcing top play Hoffman has been an issue. The GM forced that. He didn't have to sign Hoffman, but when you pay someone 4M, the guy is going to play, even if it costs the team. Every line Hoffman winds up on struggles. Heck, when Hoffman and Perron are on the same line, Perron quits even trying to play defense. (yeah, hindsight is 20/20 and all, because I thought Hoffman might fit). I wouldn't say Berube has "lost" the team so much as he's been shackled for half the season with injuries and trying get players to play roles which don't fit them. Something to remember, the Blues last win was the game in which Sundqvist got hurt. He's like Schwartz in that he's more important than many realize because of his ability to play on any line in any situation. Add in the impact of a shortened schedule and trying to reintegrate players coming off of injuries with little practice time - then facing the top teams immediately after the only remaining 4 day break. It's just ugly right now. IMO, it's more about the team not scoring than anything else. 15 goals in 11 games.... Not sure how that gets fixed, but part of it is getting rid of Hoffman, possibly Dunn (whose awful in his own end), and Sanford who just can't perform with any kind of consistency.

[WaukeeBlues]

1) Did Army screw up by picking Krug over Pietrangelo? The answer seems like a resounding yes.
2) Was Binnington a one hit wonder who got his money and now he's going to languish as just a serviceable starting goalie and not an elite? The answer seems like a maybe.
3) Has Berube lost the team and should he be replaced? The answer also seems like a maybe.

1) If Parayko were healthy, Krug might still have worked. With the way Faulk has played most of this season and a healthy Parayko, the defense would likely be better. While everyone calls it Krug vs Petro, Krug is a LD, not right - so it's kind of the wrong comparison. The expectation was for Parayko to step up and Krug would essentially be replacing Bouwmeester.

2) Agreed on the maybe, but the goaltending ties to the defense.

3) Berube being shackled with forcing top play Hoffman has been an issue. The GM forced that. He didn't have to sign Hoffman, but when you pay someone 4M, the guy is going to play, even if it costs the team. Every line Hoffman winds up on struggles. Heck, when Hoffman and Perron are on the same line, Perron quits even trying to play defense. (yeah, hindsight is 20/20 and all, because I thought Hoffman might fit). I wouldn't say Berube has "lost" the team so much as he's been shackled for half the season with injuries and trying get players to play roles which don't fit them. Something to remember, the Blues last win was the game in which Sundqvist got hurt. He's like Schwartz in that he's more important than many realize because of his ability to play on any line in any situation. Add in the impact of a shortened schedule and trying to reintegrate players coming off of injuries with little practice time - then facing the top teams immediately after the only remaining 4 day break. It's just ugly right now. IMO, it's more about the team not scoring than anything else. 15 goals in 11 games.... Not sure how that gets fixed, but part of it is getting rid of Hoffman, possibly Dunn (whose awful in his own end), and Sanford who just can't perform with any kind of consistency.

(1) The 2019 defense that won the cup has been almost totally overhauled. Bouw isn't Army's fault obviously but everyone else is. Can you tell me with a straight face that, even with Parayko, this defense isn't demonstrably worse than it was in 2019? I think he's horribly mismanaged the defense. Krug I think will be better in year 2. Faulk has cooled off from his hot start, do we know he can ever get it back? If Krug and Faulk can't do it by next year then they can't do it. I'm on record repeatedly on this forum that yea, we should've kept Petro and "paid the man" and so far it looks like I'm right. I hope I become wrong.

(2) It was a fair contract extension for a relatively low number. He's an NHL starter, no question. Elite or Vezina? Probably not. He definitely caught lightning in a bottle in 2019 and we got a cup for that for which I will forever be thankful. That probably colors a lot of my thoughts on Binner haha. But I think he's definitely a starter and very few of the teams issues this year are on him I think.

(3) Agree with theohall. This isn't on Berube I don't think. Not entirely. You can always put some blame on the coach when your team isn't playing well. To the point he should be fired? I certainly don't think so. At all.