I may be one of the most fortunate Blues fans around as I had previously sold Tuesday night’s tickets and ended up working late, missing all but the last 10 minutes or so of the game. As a result, I didn’t have the “pleasure” of watching most of yet another stinker at home.
The Blues have lost 3 of their last 6 games at home by 3 or more goals including losses to the 24th and 31st ranked teams in the NHL (Florida and Arizona). The comments after the game are similar to those we have been hearing mid-January after home stinkers. We need to respond. We know it’s not good enough. We need to look in the mirror. We need better preparation. We need to be better. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
Only a few of the comments provided some little bits of insight. Vladimir Tarasenko talked about how “everyone wants to try and help the team as much as he can” but “sometimes emotions go the wrong way”. He talked about how they need to “be on the same page”. Alex Pietrangelo talked about the need to “simplify the game plan at home”, mentioning it was “too complicated” and “unpredictable”. Was Pietrangelo taking a bit of a shot at coach Mike Yeo? I don’t necessarily think so but it may warrant remembering as you see interviews and read comments in the coming weeks.
Weeks ago, Carter Hutton spoke about how the team “kind of had a closed-door meeting” after the 5-2 to Arizona. It appears to me it seems time to have a full-fledged closed-door meeting.
So even though I didn’t see this stinker, I think I can sum it up along with the recent poor home games with this NFL video.
When you look at the standings, the real difference in the Blues, Predators and Jets records are their home records. The Blues are an average 18-11 while the other two have only combined for 8 regulation losses. If the Blues don’t start playing better hockey soon, Jim Mora’s famous playoffs tirade will start being applicable.
In reviewing the box score, I found it interesting that Scottie Upshall only played 8:25, almost 3 minutes less than every other forward, yet had 6 hits and 4 shots on goal, easily the most productive stats of any non-point earning forward on the team.
Tonight the Blues will try to turn the page when they host the Colorado Avalanche. The Blues defeated the Avalanche 3-1 two weeks ago with goals from Paul Stastny, Brayden Schenn, and Alexander Steen with Hutton stopping over 97% of the shots faced.
The Avalanche are on the outside looking in for the playoffs but do have a number of games in hand. They are 6-3-1 in their ten and are without injured leading scorer Nathan McKinnon. Alexander Kerfoot will be facing the Blues for the 3rd time already having 3 goals and an assist against the Blues. Tyson Barrie is back in the lineup after missing time with a fractured right hand.
The Avalanche have been scoring a lot this season, ranking 6th in goals per game. Their goal prevention has been average, ranked 17th. Their special teams have been good, ranking 3rd on the penalty kill and 15th on the power play. It sounds like Jonathan Bernier will get the start again in net.
For the Blues, it sounds like the lines are shifting to theses:
Forwards
Alexander Steen - Paul Stastny – Vladimir Tarasenko
Jaden Schwartz - Brayden Schenn – Patrik Berglund
Dmitrij Jaskin - Vladimir Sobotka – Tage Thompson
Scottie Upshall – Kyle Brodziak – Ivan Barbashev
Defense
Carl Gunnarsson - Alex Pietrangelo
Jay Bouwmeester - Colton Parayko
Joel Edmundson -Vince Dunn
Goalie
Carter Hutton
It’s a great day for hockey.
Fellow Hockeybuzz bloggers Nashville Predator's Paul McCann, Winnipeg Jet's Peter Tessier and Minnesota Wild's Dan Wallace have generously agreed to a friendly charity wager. We were hoping to do the whole division but don't have it fully represented yet. The blogger whose team finishes the highest the standings at the end of the year gets to pick a charity to whom the others will donate in their name.
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