You Don't Always Get What You Deserve: Blues Fall To Avalanche

It happens. Sometimes you out-hustle an opponent, you out-shoot an opponent and you out-chance an opponent and you still lose. Sometimes that's because Chris Mason can't stop a beach ball and sometimes it is related to other issues. But usually it's Mason and his inability to see/react to beach balls. Sorry folks, it's just science.

But if I'm known for anything, it's my positivity, right? So let's start positive and see where we end up, shall we?

• Congratulations to Alex Steen (or B.J. Crombeen if the goal ends up getting credited to his legs). The Blues record for fastest goal from the start of the game is eight seconds. It was set by Greg Paslawski on Oct. 29, 1985 in Washington. Tonight Steen/Crombeen's legs tied that record.
• The Blues had 39 shots on goal in the game and completely dominated large chunks of the second and third periods. Everyone seems to think that Peter Budaj played out of his mind, but my seats at the rink aren't good enough to confirm that first-hand. I will say that it seems like most of the bounces seemed to go bad for the Blues when they needed that tying goal. File that, too, under You Don't Alaws Get What You Deserve.
• Patrik Berglund continued to ramp up his late-season performance and all we can hope is that he rolls this on through the summer and into next year. A Berglund that plays as well as this one has lately would have been a big help at the start of the season.
• I blasted T.J. Oshie pretty hard at the start of the year for not playing classic Oshie-style games. He wasn't flying around the ice, hitting and pounding and attacking the puck relentlessly. And then he had an emergency appendectomy, a procedure that he had to be pulled away from a meet-and-greet to go to the hospital to receive, pretty much confirming me as "Biggest Ass In Town" for a brief period of time. Oshie, of course, has been back to form for a long time now and watching him tonight was a reminder of what a great player he can become. He had one of those games where you notice him every second he is on the ice.
• I don't want to leave anyone out who was working hard tonight, but it'd be easier to name a forward who wasn't. Frankly, I can't think of one. David Perron willed his goal into the net, while Andy McDonald, Paul Kariya and Keith Tkachuk all looked as energetic as the kids did. D.J. King didn't have a fight tonight, but he did have a hand in at least two near-goals, including the one waved off by the ref because someone was in the crease referees are idiots. Name a forward and I can think of a compliment for him tonight. I thought the whole group was strong.
• In an effort to remain positive, I will not spend much time on the Blues goaltending and the fact that it let down the rest of the team that was working so hard to score goals. Yes, there were defensive breakdowns that led to odd-man rushes and open guys on the back door, but still, did Mason make even one difficult save tonight? At what point will this team make a move to grab a true number one goalie who can lock down games? So, yeah, I won't talk about that.
• Dear Darcy Tucker, next time you want to start a fight with someone, you might want to remember that Mike Weaver (the Smallest Man In The NHL(TM)) is not the guy you want to try. Not only did ol' Monkey Arms step up to the challenge and daze you with a shot to the button, but he also got the takedown, putting you into the dying cockroach position on the ice. In short, you are now his bitch. Please make the appropriate arrangements with your family.
• Those were two important points and the Blues lost both of them. This is supposed to be positive, so I'll just say this: They aren't mathematically eliminated yet!

The team travels to NY, NY for game against the Rangers on Thursday. What of those two points?