Blues At Stars Recap: Blues Drop Game 4-1 After Shifts Off In First Period

Have you ever had a game that, after completion, you didn't feel like you watched? Somewhere in the back of your mind you know that you watched something, but you still feel like later on that evening you have something to do?

This is that game for me. It's not that game just because it was an afternoon game, though that does play into it. No, it's that game to me because it's probably that game to the Blues. They're probably sitting in their Dallas hotel right now thinking to themselves "man, isn't there something that we had to do today?" Why yes, yes there was. It's a shame they forgot.

The game started off well enough, with David Perron trying to put anyone who thinks he's on the first slow boat to Philly in their place.

All right! What else do we have for this period? Ok, so a goal to Erik Cole isn't the end of the world, and besides, Brian Elliott had no chance on it. They'll rebound! Elliott will have the next one, no -

Oh. Man. He probably would have loved to have had that one back, which is a phrase repeated on auto-pilot every time Elliott allows a soft goal. Sure, they happen, but for Elliott, they happen more often than not, and the Blues show it in spades when they're not confident in their goalie. They weren't confident tonight, as they all but stopped playing with any aggression after the first period. In the third period, Adam Cracknell had the gall to attempt to crash the net and Kari Lehtonen. The result was something that looked like a goal, but wasn't because of a distinct kicking motion made while falling down. That Adam Cracknell - what a creative player!

The greatest thing is here with the no-goal is that the ref was signaling hand-pass while the war room said Cracknell put it in with a "distinct kicking motion" as he was being brought down. Same difference. Anyway, there was one other goal by the Stars that Elliott should have had, and then an empty netter by Jagr.

The Blues didn't look like they gave a shit for most of this game. They do this when they get behind the eight ball - not necessarily in terms of in a game, but in terms of in a season overall. This isn't the first time we've seen them act like children when they're not getting their way, but giving up and pouting won't work under Ken Hitchcock. They can try it, but it's not going to get them far. Hitch doesn't care that the team has three top guys out. The fans don't care either. This team is expected to win, and they need to figure out how to before someone's mailing address turns into one in Calgary, or someplace like that. I wouldn't be shocked to hear if a certain GMs patience isn't a little thin.