Let's Hope You Didn't Stay Up Late for This: Blues Blown Out By Kings

No thoughts. Just dissapointment. Ah, fuck it. I’ll still be glued to the screen for the next game.

Is consistent. Unfortunately, his consistency relates only to his ineffectiveness. I don’t know whether it’s a lack of legs, or a lack of heart for Langs, but with the puck he looks as though he doesn’t have the compete level to protect it, and without the puck he looks like he doesn’t care enough to battle for it. I’m just hoping he hasn’t brought last years Jersey stench with him.

is with the goalie coach. What is he doing? Jaro seems to be thinking way too much instead of being the instinctive goalie he usually is. Is the goalie coach trying to change his game? I’m all for working on weaknesses…but not to change a goalie’s natural game.

The first issue here has to be the coaching.

this is stupid.

but can you really blame him when half of the time the goals are scored by some opposing player who parks his ass directly in front of net? What’s up with our defense?

maybe they looked/played like shit because it was the third game in 4 days after traveling for about a week.. maybe? i’m reeeeeally searching for optimism.

At least we lost to a talented team, and not someone we should have no problem beating. It’s not an excuse, but I’d rather lose to a team with talent, than a talentless one.

I’m really hopeful that Davis Payne and Co. did consider a bag skate in the team’s near future, because efforts like the one seen last night should not be acceptable for a team with such high hopes to start the season. Who knows whether or not it would help, but at least it would show that the coaching staff doesn’t like piss-poor efforts and won’t let them go unpunished.

In the meanwhile, serious evaluation needs to be given to the current coaching staff as to whether or not they should still be here. Now . . . some of you may recall from a couple years ago that I was fully aboard the “Keep Murray” train, and never left it, even on the day he was fired and replaced by Payne. The next month should be key to Payne’s future in St. Louis . . . can the team give a consistent 60-minute effort every night? Can the team simply find a way to win a hockey game when a win isn’t in sight? Or will poor efforts, stupid penalties and otherwise lackluster performances win out?

My thought is this – for the love of God, don’t fire Coach Payne right now. Look at the situation in the next month . . . see what the team does. If it falls along the lines of the first six games and what happened at the middle part of last year, then cut him (and perhaps the rest of the coaching staff) loose and start over with someone else. If there’s improvement, give him another month and see if it continues. Rinse, lather, repeat.

I say this having all the respect in the world for the job Coach Payne has done in his time as Aces, Rivermen and Blues coach. He’s a player’s coach and he seems like a solid dude and a better-than-average hockey mind. I DON’T want to see him get fired . . . but this start has me thinking as to whether or not that needs to be evaluated in the near future.