Blues Vs. Lightnings Open Thread

Ok, so the Blues are playing one of the worst teams in the league — so what kind of effort will we see? Seems that the Blues have a hard time with the “easy” games.

Whether or not they win this game lies in how we handle the Vinnie Lecavalier line. The rest of their team can’t score. Sounds familiar.

Is it just me or has Stempniak looked kind of terrible lately? He struggled to start the season, then caught fire for a while. However, since the 1st of January he has 2 goals and 2 assists for 4 points in 14 games and is a minus-4 during that time. He seems to have disappeared as a scoring threat and looks like he gets beat along the boards all night long. Has anyone else noticed this or am I just being too critical?

Nope. I see it too. Stempy seems a little lost out there. Teams have taken away his favorite move. They’ve been sitting on top of him when he tries to curl, so he’s pretty much been reduced to an offensive afterthought. When all else fails, go to the net young man, and not necessarily with the puck.

See you all tonight.

I was thinking the same thing about Backes until recently, so hopefully Stempy turns things around soon. He still gets off some nice shots once in a while.

That is the frustrating part about Stempy’s game. He is a sniper no doubt but he is being shut down way too much.

Goalie Guy makes a great point, go to the net. It seems like Tkachuk and Backes are the only ones who are going to the net with any regularity. We are not getting any garbage goals on rebounds and hardly get a good screen in front of the goalie. Not going to score many goals that way.

but backes and kt are not scoring effectively, so they going to the net isnt waking up their line, the only line scoring consisstanly is a line that is strong on the transition and able to finsih.

we aint got enough to make more than 1 line, hell with our d, we are lucky we got one line that occasionally gets the job done via a transition.

Going to the game tonight, fully expecting a sloppy game much like our contests at home vs the coyotes, earlier this year. Bleh.

we ought to change up the scoring lines in order to get them both going.
to do this we’d need to return Boyes and Walt to their origional positions.
I say try it like this:

Kariya – Boyes – Stempniak
Tkachuk – McDonald – Perron

Dutchie and Boyes can take care of themselves and they can both keep an eye on Kariya if things get rough. and of course Walt would play big brother to McDonald and Perron.

Holmqvist is slated to start, and Manny is probable since he’s god. however it’s probably still up in the air who’s gonna start for us considering Tampa’s poor record. this would be a prime opportunity for Hannu. even more, starting Woywitka will help if Hannu gets the nod…afterall, he did play very well in Peoria and Woy was there wth him.

Walt does have 3 goals in the last 3 games, so going to the net is working for him right now. Backes is playing very well with 11 points in his last 12 games. Those two are doing something right. Dutchie needs to get back on track with a break out game tonight!!

Stempniak and Perron really needs to find some consistency if we’re to get anywhere on this endeavor. This team on paper should look better than what it does. They lack an identity period. If they stayed as intense as they were at the start of the season they would of been considered a dark horse. Media and minds now rationalize that this is more what they should be. It’s time to step the fuck up and make it happen, then ride that emotion and momentum into the playoffs.

What’s going on? I watch on NHL Center Ice (I’m on the west coast) and it says it is on but it is not. It is listed as Game 11 and there are only 10 channels of games. Anyone else? Sucks. I am used to the once in a while game not televised but this blows!

My cable company only has 10 channels devoted to the NHL package…and the lone game not on here is the Blues. Unbelievable. (I know I cannot complain too much cause I get more games than the majority of you) Seriously, the fiancee is working late, and I actually could have watched it. Usually I just get to watch the 3rd period after she has gone to bed…Damn

Did not see your message Scot. We are both ripped off here.

Lookin a little better now, crappy start

Maybe it is on sopcast somewhere, cant find it so far.

rotten break on the tampa goal. pass in the skates just slid and settled in the crease. good comeback less than a minute so tampa got no momentum. we pretty much have carried the play. I’m just waiting to catch one of tampa’s defensemen up ice; they’re leaving early.

finally woke up late in the 2nd.good power play chances, maybe get a goal with fresh ice? When will Perron’s linemates realize that he will work to feed the slot and go there?

http://golf.cautela.nl/showthread.php?t=14485

Just FYI

SC

Sitting upstairs one thing is very evident: the Blues are outplaying these guys and their one-line attack.

We need some pucks to fall.

Fuck

Fuck x 2

This is so not cool

What. The. Hell.

Losing to the worst team in the Eastern Conference = trading Jackman and maybe others.

As Gallagher just told me over the phone, “Bad, bad lose, man.”

this game was winnable. we were buzzing the entire first period and most of the second. we tied up every goal before long….but then in the 3rd, they fell asleep.

“oh, shit, we’re down 3 goals! better score some”

sweet goals finally coming back but they weren’t soon enough and their goals shouldn’t have been allowed in the first place.

apparently the ice conditions were awful. ruts everywhere, assisting on Tampa Bay goals and shit

Just got back. Game was winnable. Ridiculously sluggish in 3rd period. I don’t want to talk about it anymore.

That’s two straight where we had no business losing. We are sellers this year.
Tampa’s 1st and 3rd were bad bounces (do we ever get any that go our way?), but there was no excuse for the 5th (puck should have been cleared-better yet, Hinote should have put the puck in the net at the other end after a slot giveaway that clanked off his stick.)

We all need to remember that this team is a work in progress, so I will continue to look for positive signs. After staying a fan through 1 BC (Before Checketts), it’s infuriating because they show glimpses of being a playoff team, but really, an infusion of young talent next year can only help.

Good things this game:
Perron was the best player on the ice for the Blues. He’s not afraid to get his nose dirty, he battles for the puck, and if his teammates would head toward the slot every so often when he’s behind the net instead of taking positions on the wing or heading back there with him, they might find themselves with some scoring chances. He out-fought Tampa defensemen and slid the puck FLAT AND SLOW into the slot twice.

EJ did some good things, some not so good things. He had a typical rookie game. A couple of giveaways in his own end from trying to carry the puck too much (teammates getting to a passing lane that didn’t involve the high slot would have been nice.)

David Backes continues to impress, although he did a little too much running around tonight.

The bad:
That penalty on Woywitka was pretty bogus. Tampa grabbed Blues players a lot more effectively than that. In a similar vein, what happened to the league focus on interference?

Manny looked lost tonight. He wasn’t as secure with the puck,, and he had problems catching it all night.

Salvador’s giveaway wound up costing us the game. The shot was a piece of shit that bounced, flipped and rolled into the net, but the puck should have been out.

Decent effort for 40 minutes, then Tampa gets a cheapie and they folded. In their own house. There’s no excuse for getting outworked in your own building. It’s as if this team is waiting for the next bad thing to happen to them, instead of putting pressure on on the other team, they’re putting pressure on themselves. The team needs better play in their offensive end; when you’re facing a goalie with an 89% save percentage, you should work for better shots than the circle and blue line with no traffic.

I’m tired, I’m crabby, and we’re going to be sellers again. I wasn’t expecting the playoffs this year, but I’m still disappointed, because we could have made them.

“apparently the ice conditions were awful. ruts everywhere, assisting on Tampa Bay goals and shit”

I hear other announcers elude to this all the time on Center Ice. What is the deal? Strickland mentioned it once but it seemed like the typical damage control cheerleading from him. If our ice is so messed, why and why can’t they fix it?

I had class tonight and didn’t get to see the game except the last 2 minutes and I have a few questions.

1. How did Woywitka look?

2. Did Brewer play that badly, or is it just a coincidence that he was on the ice for TB’s first 4 goals?

3. Did Jackman or Salvador play well enough to get traded?

4. I think that it’s time to start selling, what do you guys think?

Later.

Goalie Guy you’re right on about Perron. He’s got this amazing ability to produce a beautiful surprise centering pass from out of nowhere — he did it at least 2 times if not 3 in this game. I mean, he’s pinned along the boards almost behind the net, then ZING — the puck shoots out along the ice right up the middle! Nobody expected it, and (it seemed like) nobody saw it.

I really wish I can see the replays on a couple of those goals. There were at least 2 that Manny never even moved on.

I thought Biggest Loser was on NBC. Man, that was stinker last night. Whoa.

Funny, my friend who rarely every watches hockey commented to me mid-game that “the ice must be really bad”.

Manbones, I don’t think Brewer played that badly. The first TB goal was a pass to the point that hit a skate hard and settled into the slot about 15 feet from Manny. The last goal was a giveaway by his partner, Salvador while Brewer was engaged in the corner. He was on the ice for the PP (that was a well executed PP) The third goal for TB was a puck that bounced over a bunch of sticks and eluded Manny. A pass to a weakside trailer was the other goal. The guy just outmuscled Kariya who was a half-stride late.

PS: GTPD, I think that’s why AM doesn’t start the game that often with our first line. They’re small. As far as I can tell, if the other team has a big physical first line, he wants the energy line to counter.

Man, I’m sick of our “energy line”. If scoring a goal consisted of holding the puck against the wall and never taking any shots, we’d be winning 900-1. We definitely need someone with size AND skill on this team… Backes is getting better, but he has to work on his shot. He’s missed the net several times after some very good passes from Kariya.

Ugh, brutal.

When we had the mighty-mite line out there – they just plain got out-muscled. EB had his usual half-ass play going, pretty funny when teeny-tiny Marty St. Louis can knock him off the puck and skates. And while I hate for my boys in Blue to lose, I can’t help but love MStL – he is my favorite player in the league hands down. He & Vinnie are a magical combo on the ice.

While I watched the 3rd – all I could think of was the line in “The Replacements” from Gene Hackman as he’s walking off the field at the half before Keenau comes back – taps his chest and simply says “No Heart” – that is what I’m feeling the last 2 games. Friday was amazing, since then, I have to agree with Coach McQuinty, “No Heart”.

There were no big checks last night, no taking the body, nothing to spark it. Overall it was a pretty boring, limp game from our side.

oops – sorry the quote is “Heart… miles and miles of heart”

I would just like to thank the fuckers who thought it would be cool to try and start the wave right in front of us right when the blues were making the game interesting again with 3 minutes to play. Thanks Fuckers ! !!

Best line of the night in GT:

“The greatest thing about the win vs Ducks Friday night?
Winning while not having to see towel boy.”

Loved that line too! :)

I hear you, Dan. I thought I was going to have to give at least one of those idiots a beat-down for a minute there.

Real hockey fans don’t spend the entire second half of the 3rd period trying to start the wave.

i wanted to go to see leclavier and st. louis(martin that is) but the bad weather held me back last night(sickness and voting and what not).

the other thing this proves is that we suck. only four goals off of HOLE-mquist. and the crappy lightening defense. pathetic. tkachoke’s like an old horse…he should be taken out back and shot(not literally a joke folks no ideas okay as tempting as they might be).

perron finally getting his dues.

wyowitka proving me right and that i might know more than gtprospects when it comes to evaluating talent.

trade jackman, slavador and backman or at least throw backman away. we got the depth in the system and the talent. trust me people i know what the fuck i’m talking about.

with what the blues have now, we the FANS are getting SCREWED because this is not the best product that could be put on the ice, not by a long shot. trade tkachoke trade tkachoke to someone you don’t want to win the Cup because he’s a cancerous loser. I WANT NAGY, HANDZUS AND JEFF TAFFE AND THE PICK BACK AND WHILE WE’RE AT I WANT JOCHEN AND MARTY BACK AS WELL, though at least now we have mcdonald who’s making me say i’m luvin’ it.

call me crazy or stupid but i KNOW for a fact who to put on the ice to make a winner and make us proud again.

We will have a winner on the ice again…but not this season it seems. At this point the Blues would have to go on a mind boggling winning streak, and I just dont think they have it in them.

I think we gotta decide now that we are sellers not buyers in this market…and yes, ship Tkachuck. (not that I am as violently anti-Keith as some around here are.)

I will say this…I’m deathly ill these days and the loss to Tampa took a few more days off my life….not that I was going to be anything special with them….its the principle of the thing.

tire: commercial

deer, yea i avoid

alice copper?

hell yea, sure he hasnt had a hit in 15 years, but stll he is alice

richard simmons?

yea i’d accelerate and then reconsider

towel boy?

i’m washing blood of my grill with some autographed towels i found

Chris D. wrote:

“wyowitka proving me right and that i might know more than gtprospects when it comes to evaluating talent.”

==

Who the hell are you?

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Chris D. wrote:

“trust me people i know what the fuck i’m talking about.”

==

John Davdison asks, “who the hell are you?”

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Chris D. wrote:

“call me crazy or stupid but i KNOW for a fact who to put on the ice to make a winner and make us proud again.”

==

OK, you’re crazy AND stupid.

Seriously, who the hell are you?

jesus man. i was joshing a bit. earlier in the year when we were blogging about prospects i mentioned wyowitka and you said he played lazy down in peoria. this was early in the season. so i was making an obscure reference to that when i dissed you. but it wasn’t a real diss man. so please do not take it that way.

that aside i know the blues could put a better product on the ice. it’s a pure fact man. and maybe jd should know who the hell i am.

but crazy and stupid also…yeah i am. i’m only a man. a stupid one because i am a fan of the blues who are like the eternal bridesmaid but never a bride, like the cubs only the cubs once won some championships. and when i call myself stupid for being a blues fan please do not infer that to constitute that staement as being applicapble to anyone except for myself because i do not portend to any pretense that allows me to judge what reasons others may have for being a fan of my favorite team.

rich i am sorry to hear that about you. i always have fun on the game chats with you. i also appologize for my strong, bullied opinions if they are the cause of ayone’s hurt. my strong opinions, if i may make an appology, stem from my frustration on a manifold level. aloow me to elucidate on those triggers that cause me such a high level of frustration.

1) it is reported that some blues players are offended by the term rebuild yet many of them play without the pride and effort of those less talented on the team as those i presume complain about this tag.

2) i have seen this very team completely dominate on the ice when i full effort is given.

3) i am offended that pleau is often credited with many of these trades unless he truly learned from his earlier follies such as: letting hull walk away for nothing, letting demitra walk away for nothing, signing tkachoke to such an exboarant amount of money(see previous contract though this one too is a bit high but not as much as the previous one), the abundance of money dumped on weight, the trading of handzus, nagy, hect and reasoner and my list is yet deeper but i will stop it here.

4) there are those commericials about whatever it takes and mcclement sure as hell doesn’t seem to care too much for what he said in them, while backes remains the hardest working forward.

5) the way hannu’s been treated.

6) the resigning of brewer and mayers depsite the “great offers” received for them last year.

7) andy murray who earlier in the season in a game against clagary on the road had the team start trapping with 18 minutes left in the first after a goal was scored and the blues looked dominant. it is after this game i feel that some seams in the fabric of the team ripped open.

8) the fact that certain forwards have been credited with good penalty killing most of the season though it was mostly the work of manny and then that of the defensemen. to wit, one short handed goal for in an empty net—last in the league.

9) tkachoke’s willingness to lambast teamates after scoring a goal or deciding to work hard in the third but not most of the game. along with that his continued appearance at the center postion despite the obvious fact he has slowed way down and limits much of his chance at being an effective force on the ice and might also account for his apparent laziness.

10) when wyowotka shows that we obviously lack defensemen who can move the puck without unnecessary turnovers leads to better chances and exploits the short comings of a number of defensemen who especially have looked bad at defense as of late.

11) the stubburness of placing eric brewer on the power play when his forte is being a strong defensive presence in his zone and the occasional rush. thus, making him look bad and the blues for overpaying for the services he provides.

i have others but this must be getting boring. of course feel free to criticize me or i am more than willing to be engaged in a conversation. i repent my flaws willingly when they have been exposed more readily than i’ll tkae credit for my accuracies except of course when i feel free to toot my own horn.

was that a quote form john davidson?
if so i’d like to see it unabridged.

Admin commands everyone here to play nice. And not be too thin-skinned (looking in the general direction of historic Macoupin County).

We’re all big Blues fans and we’re all upset at the current lack of a “winning mentality”. We’re all also a bit given to the veiled good-natured dig and/or sarcastic comment.

Let’s all agree to take a deep breath, realize that members of the GT Family are all just that: family. We’re all here because we’re a tad crazier than the regular brand of Blues fan. No one is here to start shitstorm fights.

Take a breath, take it easy, take a moment.

We’re all friends here, let’s remember that.

That is all.

-The Great and Mighty Admin

COME ON WITHOUT!

COME ON WITHIN!

you’ve not seen nothing like the mighty admin….

I just read on Strickland’s blog that Walker is pissed that the Blues called up Woywitka and played him while Walker has been eating nachos all season. Now Walker wants a trade, is Strickland full of shit? Are they gonna trade Walker? Does it really matter?

kennan-staley cup= murray

i’d believe anything as long as strickland doesn’t report it :)

Thanks Admin. You can tell people are fanatic about this team right now. It’s like Cardinal fans are infecting the fanbase.

It also never ceases to amaze me how tough and knowledgable people are on the interwebs.

Watching this thing blow up yesterday at STLtoday.com was awesome. I was slightly erect too.

One of the reasons I like posting here so much is that most people have good educated opinions mixed in with great comedy. The other boards like stltoday.com and the blues site have some real douche bags and it pisses me off when someone puts up a fire Murray thread 1 full year into his tenure. Give me a facking break. If you watched the post game after the Tampa Bay game you would see that this guy shouldn’t be going anywhere.

badamn. no thin skin here. i’m blasting the blues and using comedy to releive my pain like as if i were in communist russia. only i think my blend of comedy isn’t easy to digest. again sorry if i in anyway i offend.

i love it here. i have some strong opinions. i’m all about chatting and learning. and for the most part(about 99%), i respect what everyone else here has to say.

this is the home of gallows humor as long as i am here i can tell you that!

Not sure if posting links to videos is cool here….let me know if not…
But this is funny….
http://www.videosift.com/video/How-to-Properly-Celebrate-after-an-Awesome-Penalty-Save
Can’t see this happening in the NHL…

OK, so if I took something the wrong way, I’m heartily sorry.

Comedy ain’t my forte, and I don’t do sarcasm very well.

I take this stuff seriously. Maybe TOO seriously sometimes, but that’s who I am, and it wouldn’t feel right changing my style to be more of the wise guy like most of my fellow GT’ers.

I fully intend for this experience to be a stepping stone to bigger and better things in sports journalism and hockey operations — and I have no intention of forgetting my fellow travelers when, not if, I get there.

Again, sorry.

B.

hey man no probs gt. but you should get used to the tasteless humor here before you start getting truly criticizing comments towards your work from a general audience.

i’m pretty serious about the blues and hockey also but right now i’m so frustrated and angry and sick that i’m being highly sarcastic most of the time to let out the pent up steam brother.

but as a side note everytime i’ve tried to engage you in serious discussion about prospects i don’t think you have listened to me.

i understand there’s some sort of idea of player placement and evaluation of the blues by the management and scouts but what i’ve been saying is it is broken in a lot places.

i can also look up a thousand scouting reports and repeat them(not saying you do this), but for years i’ve tended to be dead on about up and coming players. it’s something i was fascinated with as a kid when i liked some rookie’s last name and he started playing well. i’ve done this in two sports.

sometimes all i want to do is scout. it’s fun to me. i’ve also worked on quantifying some of the hidden aspects that make some players go undrafted but become stars. what they add to a team that gets the team over the hump or subtracts from a good team.

linglet’s a guy who could help the blues immensely right now. his skating is much improved from last year. nikolia also would help the blues for at least a short span, he is still pretty young. but at the begining of the year i had him listed at 176lbs and peoria has him listed over two hundred. he’s got all the ability’s then and hopefully he can use his size and strength.

martin kariya should be in the nhl somewhere. he’s a midlevel point producer. a third liner who you put on the pk to keep the blueliners back and cautious.

chris porter’s improving everyday and right now should replace either hinote or ryan johnson on the blues fourth line.

glumac should be a fourth liner on the blues as well.

stastny should be on third line to see if there’s a fit or put him on the fourth line. he’s intriguing. he’s a much improved skater than when i skated with him.

wyowitka, wagner and dupont should all be getting regular shifts on the blues.

andy murray is incorrect in his game plan. the blues do not exploit their team speed because the are incapable of a smooth transition game and the clog up their own neautral zone limiting their speedy smaller forwards ability to exloit their talents and other teams’ weaknesses and this is further compounded when a dump and chase style is employed and kariya or mcdonald has to go into a corner for a fifty-fifty play. tell me how that all makes sense and i’ll tell it’s poor coaching.

andy murray came in last year and worked with the players. this year he came in like a dictator put out an idea and has stuck to it as if it were infallible and it has cost us game after game. last year he treated then rookie backes better than he has treated perron or ej. andy murray is hardly ever seen on the bench and talking about the game and instructing but he is always shown in the locker room with a scowl and demanding.

last year he constantly was seen leaning over and instructing.

so you got a team that’s not built right in two places, from the defense to the forwards(too many chacking non producing forwards, not enough offensive dmen), and not built towards the style of coaching being employed.

what do you think gtpros?

let’s have an argument in true sense of the word and not the stupid squabble kind, but two opinions voiced in an effort to better understand a subject.

Chris, I apologize agan if I’ve ever seemed to blow you off, or not engage you on the subject of prospects.

I agree with just about all of your observations in the above post, and I’d love to engage you on these topics. Unfortunately, Mrs. GTPD has my evening pretty well planned out for me already, and hanging on the ‘Net talking hockey isn’t in her plan… :-(

I promise we’ll get to this tomorrow.

B.

rock on man. the great thing about posts versus a live conversation is it can be like a chess game. make a comment when you want and then i’ll make one whatever.

and no biggie. i appologize again as well because i couldn’t make myself sound more tongue in cheek. i think when you come off with strong opinions then you try to mock yourself in writing it’s hard to catch the inflection that’d normally be in my voice.

word.