By Brad Lee
I don't want to sound like a Petr Cajanek (zing!), but this live blogging is harder than it looks. It's hard to really pay attention to the game and approve commenters (everybody who hasn't tried to sell us vitamins and erection drugs has gotten through the door) and be witty and drink beer. I'm only on six through two periods. Damn! As Dooks said, I need me a beer hat. Anyway, the Blues are down 1-0. We need to see some offense to keep us awake.
It could be worse, we could be watching the fucking Cubs lose in the playoffs.
18:39-Backes and Ballard get into a fight (he's an assist short of the Gordie Howe hat trick). Backes got a few in, but they didn't want to get together. I'd call it a draw.
16:56-Legace with the save on Shane Doan. King needs to play the slot guy a little closer. His guy had too much space for the one timer and he was too far away to do anything.
14:54-Kariya stoned on the breakaway. He tried the backhander through the five hole. And Paul just got his second penalty as a Blue. Awesome.
12:42-Goal by York. Stempniak screened Legace...who just let in another one with 12:30 left. Holy. Crap. Wondering if we'll see Toivonen.
12:02-Tkachuk just scored. His line came out skating HARD. He and Rucinksy went to the net. Backes took the shot and Tkachuk shot once, got the rebound and put it back in. John Kelly says the Blues are back in it. Kind of.
10:03-Jackman, two minutes for delay of game, putting the puck over the glass in his own end. Bad break. Need another beer. Hooray, beer!
8:54-Too many men on the ice for Phoenix. Boyes almost scored and drew ANOTHER Coyotes penalty. Don't go to bed yet, ladies and gentlemen.
8:40-"a 2 man advantage for the Blues. if we don’t score here, I’m taking back my prediction that we’re making the playoffs this year" -- commenter Dooks, who wins the "It's Never Too Early To Say The Season Is Over Award." Congratulations. And yes we know, you were kidding.
7:33-Where to start. Brewer was on one point on the 5-3 instead of Johnson. Jackman got ROCKED on a hit at the blue line, helicoptered down. Brewer went right after Boynton, standing up for him. They dropped the gloves. Brew got some shots in and then took a couple when he was held down on the ice. He could get instigator. Apparently he's either not a robot after all, or someone uploaded an agressive program in his CPU tonight.
"He’s not a robot afterall… he has emotions (anger, at least)" commenter Jessica, who has good reading comprehension for the editor's columns. And apparently Brewer didn't get the instigator. THANK GOD.
6:43-Kariya got the puck down in the corner on the 5-4. He threw it at the net and Boyes deflected it in! Great, great signs on that one. 3-2 Yotes now. And the BLues have the momentum.
5:57-"NOW, John Kelly, the Blues are back in this thing!" -- commenter Dooks. We like when our commenters agree with us.
1:55-Legace flashes the leather on a nice save after the Rucinsky giveaway. And Jackman got his revenge on Boynton. FSN didn't show the replay. Bastards.
1:05-Blues pull the goalie, buzzing. Boyes took a stick to face. 6-4. I would put the goalie back. No fear of icing. But that's just me.
And that's the game without a really good chance to tie it up.
Snap reaction: Better. Commenter Jessica made the point that this was like last year where the Blues played well enough to keep it close and a few breakdowns cost them. I will say that unlike the last two years when the team really sucked (Pre-Murray), they would have rolled over and lost 3-1.
Kariya played well. Boyes really well. The other forwards were somewhat pedestrian much of the rest of the game. Legace played ok. We were really pulling for Erik Johnson to get a goal in his first game in the waning seconds.
Well friends, that's all for our first live blog. I'm tired. Interesting experiment. We'll see what we do with it from here. Keep the talk going in the comments.