GDT #5: Oct 18, 2010 Blues at Hawks FSMW (HD) KMOX - 7:30 PM

[thedoc]

PS,

Backes's fight was cool. I love to see the intensity and see him take a leadership role. However I have to admit I had to hold my breath when he got his sweater pulled up over his head and the back of his head slammed the glass on the way down.

[cprice12]

Folks, it's time to face facts: this team isn't a bit better than last year yet. Can't finish, can't get big saves in late games, has no go-to scorer, and Barrett Jackman is still freaking terrible. But I'm sure they'll all blame it on Payne in a couple of months.

Gotta disagree here.
If you can't see the improvement from last year...well...I dunno what to say.
Yeah, they blew a lead, but you can tell this team is damn close.
Finishing is still an issue, but they have improved from last season.

Jackman was fine. Brewer was fine. I thought they played quite well as they have all season so far.

Oshie had an unusually poor finish to the game. He was having a nice game up until Chicago's final two goals in which he was mostly responsible for. He failed to tie up Hossa on the game tying goal as he fell down in the crease and was on his butt as Hossa (his man) slid the puck in. Horrible coverage.
He also established position in front of Halak in OT, but failed to pick up Sharp as he slid in behind Oshie for an easy tap in on the pass from Kane.

Let's take a step back and look at it for a second... they played very well (until late) in a road game against the Stanley Cup champs and we went to OT.
If they can win on Friday they'll have taken 3 of 4 pts. from Chicago.

These games will start going the Blues way. You can just tell.

[northwest dave]

Folks, it's time to face facts: this team isn't a bit better than last year yet. Can't finish, can't get big saves in late games, has no go-to scorer, and Barrett Jackman is still freaking terrible. But I'm sure they'll all blame it on Payne in a couple of months.

Gotta disagree here.
If you can't see the improvement from last year...well...I dunno what to say.
Yeah, they blew a lead, but you can tell this team is damn close.
Finishing is still an issue, but they have improved from last season.

Jackman was fine. Brewer was fine. I thought they played quite well as they have all season so far.

Oshie had an unusually poor finish to the game. He was having a nice game up until Chicago's final two goals in which he was mostly responsible for. He failed to tie up Hossa on the game tying goal as he fell down in the crease and was on his butt as Hossa (his man) slid the puck in. Horrible coverage.
He also established position in front of Halak in OT, but failed to pick up Sharp as he slid in behind Oshie for an easy tap in on the pass from Kane.

Let's take a step back and look at it for a second... they played very well (until late) in a road game against the Stanley Cup champs and we went to OT.
If they can win on Friday they'll have taken 3 of 4 pts. from Chicago.

These games will start going the Blues way. You can just tell.

IMO, Polak has been the worst Dman on the team so far with Cola a close second. I don't think Polak's "new role" is working well for him yet.

[glen a richter]

Same shit, different year. I called it.

[Winning Unlimited]

What happened to Captain America? Is Backes okay, after going to the locker room?

[STLADOGG]

Well at least Peoria is doing well 6-1-0... <---Calder Cup.

[philco_3]

Well at least Peoria is doing well 6-1-0... <---Calder Cup.

Can we swap teams?

[drwoland]

What happened to Captain America? Is Backes okay, after going to the locker room?

He fell over Oshie's skate, so I'm sure he just got a nice linebruise across his thigh right above the knee, but he was back less than 5 minutes after it happened.

[cprice12]

Same shit, different year. I called it.

Um...you called what?
Is that your five game plan? After five games you've determined you've seen enough to say this team isn't any better than last year?

Five games?

Ok. If we're forecasting the entire season based on the first five games, we're on pace for 98.4 pts...which would make us a playoff team.

I'd take 98 pts. this season.

I'll say this...it certainly is "same shit, different year" in here. We win and we're the best team in the league. The next night we lose and we're all of a sudden we're the worst team in the league.

Comical.
It's a long season boys.

[dmiles2186]

Same shit, different year. I called it.

Um...you called what?
Is that your five game plan? After five games you've determined you've seen enough to say this team isn't any better than last year?

Five games?

Ok. If we're forecasting the entire season based on the first five games, we're on pace for 98.4 pts...which would make us a playoff team.

I'd take 98 pts. this season.

I'll say this...it certainly is "same shit, different year" in here. We win and we're the best team in the league. The next night we lose and we're all of a sudden we're the worst team in the league.

Comical.
It's a long season boys.

Amen Curt. Amen. No offense Glen, but you can clearly tell there is a changing vibe with this team. Hard to put a finger on it, but once this team learns how to play a complete 60 minutes, they are going to be a consistent force. Of course there will be problems from time to time, but even though the blown leads have been frustrating, there have been a lot of positives to take away from these first 5 games. Plenty to build on.

[cprice12]

Same shit, different year. I called it.

Um...you called what?
Is that your five game plan? After five games you've determined you've seen enough to say this team isn't any better than last year?

Five games?

Ok. If we're forecasting the entire season based on the first five games, we're on pace for 98.4 pts...which would make us a playoff team.

I'd take 98 pts. this season.

I'll say this...it certainly is "same shit, different year" in here. We win and we're the best team in the league. The next night we lose and we're all of a sudden we're the worst team in the league.

Comical.
It's a long season boys.

Amen Curt. Amen. No offense Glen, but you can clearly tell there is a changing vibe with this team. Hard to put a finger on it, but once this team learns how to play a complete 60 minutes, they are going to be a consistent force. Of course there will be problems from time to time, but even though the blown leads have been frustrating, there have been a lot of positives to take away from these first 5 games. Plenty to build on.

And I don't want to downplay the blown leads. It's something they have to address and correct it now...especially after what happened last season in that area. And I was mad as hell after the last two games, but overall the team is better than last year...it's not hard to see. They're quicker. The transition game is impressive. Perron is becoming the player we had hoped he'd become. Brewer has been good and Jackman has been decent as well. Halak has been good.

But I'm not going to be jumping off the bandwagon after 15 games, much less five, and more specifically, the last two games...especially when we're averaging 1.2 pts. per game which would be good for 98 points at the end of the season and may put us in 5th or 6th place depending on how good the conference is overall.

Like I said...it's a long season.

[theohall]

I just never want to see Jackman in 4-on-4 situations ever again.

[SIU LAW]

Curt pretty much summarized my own feelings. I am aggravated and concerned about the blown leads, but the Blues have shown improvement and there have been so little games, it is hard for me to be too high or too low at the moment.

Compared to the higher spending, bigger guns in the West, the Blues are (arguably) a little undermanned but look good. If they can keep up this type of play during October while they work out the kinks, they should be in good shape.

I know everyone thinks they Blues’ budget is completely spoken for, but I think that if the Blues find that they need something after the first few weeks, they will make a change/trade. I think the organization views a playoff spot a must, and will make a trade (perhaps one that will anger fans) before they let the season get away.

The argument of whether they should have picked up someone during the offseason is now moot, so now that the season has begun, there is no need to pull the trigger before finding out what your team can do. Can the young guys take over the team? Will Halak help cover up any lack of scoring depth? Can the castoffs of other organizations put up some points if given a chance (D’, Sobo). If they things look bad, they can potentially make a deal before putting themselves in a huge hole (like the past couple of seasons).

For now, if the Blues can stay at .500, treat October like extended training camp.

[not_a_wings_fan]

I am not making any judgements about it until there's a larger sample size.

It's nice to see some of the players showing up on the score sheet that were missing from last year, but too early to tell if it's a trend.

Blowing leads sucks, and if that doesn't get fixed it's going to be a strong indictment of this team.

They need to show me that they can finish. This team created piles of quality chances last year, and continue to this year, but seem to miss a great deal of open looks.

There are many good and bad things so far in the season, but I think it's just too early to figure out what we have.

[glen a richter]

come on, someone has to counter the eternal optimism of Reelbluesfan... speaking of which, where is he?

Blown leads suck, and until the Blues prove that they can consistently NOT blow a lead, it's the same old story at the end, whether they played fantastic leading up to a late 3rd period meltdown or whether they played like crap all game. A loss is a loss, and a loss that should have been a win hurts badly.

I do credit them for getting way more shots than they got in the past. At least offensively they're trying.

[WaukeeBlues]

I will say this though- the two goals that Hossa scored were about as garbage as you can score; put a stick on the puck both times and they just happened to go in. Tkachuk would be proud.

Both times someone should have been on Hossa putting a body on him- okay, that much is the Blues' fault. Beyond that- it wasn't some monumental breakdown. One coach comment for both of those goals (hell for all 3 the Hawks scored)- put a goddamn body on the floater in front of the net.

Oh and tell Oshie to 1) Let Halak play goalie and 2) Turn around when Patrick Kane is obsessively staring down the center of the ice.

Easily correctable, endlessly frustrating. I broke three beer bottles when the Blues lost so I was as pissed as the next guy but it is what it is. Let's just kick the sh*t out of them tomorrow.