Same issues hold Blues back; fall to Ducks 4-2.

by gallagher on Oct 16, 2011 9:41 PM CDT

Sunday tends to be the one day that I can escape the Sleep When You're Dead mentality of the Game Time organization. I like to wind down, take it easy, maybe get to bed early. So do the Blues, apparently.

Let's get to the bullet points. You tell me which ones you haven't heard before.

Goaltending blah, blah, blah. I'm sick of writing it, you're sick of reading it. The big question, of course, is whether the team starts Brian Elliott on Tuesday to see if he's for real or if they start Jaroslav Halak to see if he can find his confidence.
The Blues penalty killing is the worst in the league. Their power play is now 1-for-19, which is 5.3% conversion rate. They have the right players to run these special teams units, so there must be something wrong with the execution or the system. I think it has to be the systems.
Alexander Steen continues to be the excellent but unsung stud of the team. He now has three goals and two assists in five games to lead the team in goals (tied with Jason Arnott for points). You want to get David Backes (whose only goal this year is last night's empty netter) going? Admit that the Jamie Langenbrunner on the top line experiment is over and put him on the third line and put Steen on the top line. And yes, I think Steen is good enough to not only get Backes going but to help Evgeny Grachev become NHL relevant too. It might hurt Arnott's production, but I'd trade his dip for Backes' increase.
Speaking of line combos, the T.J. Oshie, Chris Stewart and Patrik Berglund line is at its best when it is not the Stewart, Berglund, Vladimir Sobotka line. Reunite that line.

The next game is Tuesday against the Kings, so the Blues only have a couple practices to fix things. The good news for Davis Payne is that they're the same things he's been trying to fix since the first game. So there's that.

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The Blues penalty killing is the worst in the league.

Two years ago, it was best in the league. Where have you gone, Mike Weaver?

St. Louis Game Time

by averagejoe on Oct 16, 2011 9:46 PM CDT reply actions

Whichever coach is in charge of the Special Teams needs to change.

I know Shaw is in charge of the PK, but I don’t know who runs the PP of the top of my head. We can’t afford to have bad special teams for too much longer. Either change coaches or change the system, but this is nothing new, it was bad last year and is terrible this season.

by mulax6 on Oct 16, 2011 10:02 PM CDT reply actions

ugggggh

WHY THE FUCK ARE WE SUCKING!?

CUT IT OUT YOU GUYS!

I am a direct descendant of Buffalo Bill Cody -- Everything makes so much more sense now.

by Carnie on Oct 16, 2011 10:40 PM CDT reply actions

Why breakup your best line?

And this isn’t about the SOB line, it’s about the Arnott/Steen/D’Agostini line. Because so far, they’ve been great together. I disagree with moving Steen up for that reason alone. Also, Backes always starts like ice, just treat the Backes/Langenbrunner/whoever line like your 3rd because until Backes wakes up, whatever line he’s on is going to feel like our 3rd.

I do completely agree that replacing Oshie with Vodka on the Stewland line was a terrible decision. But I thought that from the moment it was reported that was the plan. Sobotka is a great 4th line player and a good 3rd liner if needed, but he isn’t a top 6 on a good team.

Is willing to go to the mattresses with the lot of yous.

by Novacain on Oct 16, 2011 10:59 PM CDT via mobile reply actions 1 recs

we all love captain america

But as of now that osh, bergie, and stewie line is arguably the blues best line. I mean wtf Payne… Osh does deserve first line status but why ruin this teams only bright spot these first few games not taking anything from steener.

by bleedinblue13 on Oct 16, 2011 11:25 PM CDT reply actions

uhhh…..halak where is your head at?

by theredmonster on Oct 16, 2011 11:58 PM CDT reply actions

Maybe i'm biased with Jaro

But the only goal I thought he shoulda stopped last night was the breakaway. He got most of it, and it trickled about an inch over the line.

The other goals were scored off a rebound of a hard slapshot, with the ducks on the Powerplay and someone letting corey perry just stand in front of the net uncontested, and Nikitin trying to block a shot and redirecting it into the goal.

Plus, Halak made some big saves early on. Score really coulda been much worse

by Cole Youngner on Oct 17, 2011 7:04 AM CDT up reply actions

Halak has sucked his first several starts

But last night wasn’t one of his bad performances. He had a solid night with only 1 soft goal and just had some unlucky bounces against a great offense. We just need him to play more like last night every night.

by Holiday86 on Oct 17, 2011 12:30 PM CDT up reply actions

Agreed 100%

He kept us in the game until the 3rd period. Jaro should take some confidence from last night and build on it. Coaches need to help him with that too.

Nikitin was -3 last night. He’s gotta be better defensively and has to put some of his shots on target…he misses the net alot.

Some thoughts on the PP. I get that you need two PP units, but why not put Petro and Shattenkirk on the point? I felt like Payne had some odd combos on the PP lines last night. I love Steener, but he seemed unformtable on the PP, I think he’s better even strength and shorthanded, he’s a great two-way player. I would have Berglund, Oshie, Stewart, Shatt, Petro for PP-1, then Backes, D’Agostini, Langenbrunner and some combo of Arnott/Nikitin/Huskins on PP2 (Arnott has a big shot and could play the point).

by Cole Youngner on Oct 17, 2011 12:42 PM CDT up reply actions

I just hate that we now justify "only" 1 soft goal as being OK.

But I agree that he was better last night than in the first two starts.

SWYD

by gallagher on Oct 17, 2011 1:07 PM CDT up reply actions

Good Point...

1 softy shouldn’t be the standard, but the team has to step up defensively, not just Jaro & Elliott, to make the goals against go down.

by Cole Youngner on Oct 17, 2011 4:33 PM CDT up reply actions

More importantly than all that.

My 4G connection would mysteriously cut out every time the Ducks scored a goal.

I’m thinking it’s a conspiracy.

Let's Go Blues!
Support your local NAHL team. Seriously.

by Paperwork Ninja on Oct 17, 2011 12:43 AM CDT reply actions

Honda Center.

Might be one of the most boring venues to watch a game. Other than the atmosphere, the building itself is incredibly nice. Getting in and out of the parking lots is a breeze. Shot right off to Space Mountain not even a half hour after the game.

Kent Huskins cares. Do you?

by bradflick55 on Oct 17, 2011 2:05 AM CDT reply actions

i really want nikitan to

do well, but he ain’t. seriously i’m tired of watching his particular brand of fail, and if he is/was/will be starting before huskins due to some sort of pp point duty, i think we can agree to skuttle that job for him as well.

yes. were is mike weaver.

i watched the blues coaching show before the game on fox, it was sad. first off they started with ALL the coaches under the checketts administration, so i got to see JD apologize for kitchen and murray, but when they got to the new stuff and started glowing on nichol and his penalty kill face off godliness all i was thinking to myself is

“yes i remember mike eastwood. not fondly, but i do remember him”

And a harvest of righteousness is grown from the seed of peace planted by peacemakers.

by Childhood Trauma on Oct 17, 2011 12:46 PM CDT reply actions 1 recs