Poor neutral zone coverage by Fabbri and Brouwer caused the needless 3 on 2 and the backing in pair of Petro and Jaybo contribute to the goal against.

Stars win

Stars win
- Conquest

And the leafs still haven't sniffed the playoffs in YEARS!

Poor neutral zone coverage by Fabbri and Brouwer caused the needless 3 on 2 and the backing in pair of Petro and Jaybo contribute to the goal against.
- Jason Millen

Problem all night even with a strong backcheck the dmen keep giving up the lines without a fight. you cannot give up the dzone blue line especially to a team with speed and skill.

this is not a players' thing this is coaching. i get it worked more against chicago but again where is this reckless pkay we were promised?

only edmundson seemed poised enough to take the body.

the score keeper was wonky with his totals which always is especially skewed in dallas, like the nyi hit counter.

so playing a physical game works but the blues are too good for it again. yet dallas has targeted tarasenko everytime he touches the puck, late hit no problem, after the whistle hit no problem.

someone needs to send a corresponding message especially to Benn because he is trying his best to hold back but you know he will crack. he is a passionate player.

the reason tarasenko does not see a lot of ice, well he gets tired easily. his line also tends to have issues with defensive zone coverage.

i guess the scribes were right that the first game would catch the blues and wake them up.

elliott made a couple of decent saves but since game six he has been a giant rebound machine. big, fat juicy rebounds into the slot. if ever it were the time through allen in there. his ability to play the puck changes the complexion of the game.

also i was not happy with the call against steen. if that gets called a lot of other things need to be called as well. but whatever. take the next game and get home ice.

berglund.... brouwer doing his oshie impression with a no look drop pass just coming in the zone.

better clog the ice and hit someone. when a big hit is there especially set up by a good back check how do you not bury the guy? seen that.

hit hit hit hit. need to take the body.

sweet toe drag by spezza on stastny, just an inch or less from being a short handed break away. but you know what really works there? taking the body. you will get the puck when someone toe drags and gets hit every time.

Poor neutral zone coverage by Fabbri and Brouwer caused the needless 3 on 2 and the backing in pair of Petro and Jaybo contribute to the goal against.
- Jason Millen

bad rebounds and no one catching the late man going to the net. need to do like demera on their team did when stastny was getting rebounds and just tackle the guy. ninhave seen this go uncalled in numerous games throughout the league in the play offs.

A great day for hockey.

A bad day to be Bruce Boudreau.
- bcallaway

their gm murray needed to fire himself. why he changed so many players on that team after last season is a mystery. look at how well many of those players he traded or did not resign have done.

And the leafs still haven't sniffed the playoffs in YEARS!
- Hull16

Hey hey, Leafs and St. Louis have how many cups since St. Louis joined the NHL? Always the brides-maid those Blues, no history to be proud of

This team should never get out hit by the Dallas Stars. The Blues need to D up in front of the net and start playing these guys as tough as they played the Blackhawks because they're just as dangerous. Benn and Spezza are the best 1-2 combo in the west.

I agree with guru, they need to get after Benn especially. He's an emotional player and he will eventually crack. Backes tried to rile him but it needs to be every shift.

I would have liked to see more of a forecheck in game 1. Their D is better than it's made out to be but a small guy like Russell can easily be knocked off the puck and Goligoski will cough it up too when pressured. If they're going to play Russell 20 minutes a night, there's plenty of opportunity to capitalize.

I am legit scared of Bouwmeester's contract.

I am legit scared of Bouwmeester's contract.
- Yeah Boyes

don't be he wants to go home. home is edmonton. edmonton needs dmen. win win.

Who was on the ice for the Blues / Stars goals in Game 1:

Who was on the ice for the Blues / Stars goals in Game 1:


- etchtech

Jay-Bo

Jay-Bo
- Yeah Boyes

but jay bo was not terrible on the play it was lack of positioning by backchecker. jaybo is usuall good at containing and pushing to the outside but few times he was beaten by a step to the outside.

problem was elliott on both goals fails to control the rebounds. second one less so and squarely on the backchecker who let his man get to a rebound near the paint with a clear lane.

many scoring chances were do to elloitt leaving big juicey rebounds. this is three games. it leads to a lot of positiong snafus.

i think if allen was in net he shuts the stars out. only about five real good looks by he stars. the blues had only three and one of those i am being gracious about.

In the game, for mostnof it, the Blues were a step behind, their passes were off the mark, their decisions were off the mark. Dallas is a good team with a lot of speed but the Blues know how to play them. They seemed rusty.

I think an adjustment needs to be made and either MPS or Jaskin needs to go in olace of Berglund. He plays far too slow to be effective against the Stars and is being caught up ice over and over again. He is one of those guys that will too often pass up a hit and that cannot be.

I would even consider someone else coming in on the fourth line and moving Ott up a line in Berglund's place and Berglund watching.

I am not sure what Hitch's thinking or the coaching staff as far as reading how players are going in a game and adjusting in game accordingly. They have never seemed to learn this lesson as of yet. For instance, Edmundson had a really strong game at both ends and he should have been loading up on ice time over both JayBo and Gunnar.

In fact, Hawks series with standing, I would go back to pairing him with Petro. Him and JayBo made sense against the Hawks for obvious reasons. Against the Stars there are too many offensive first players to not spread the D out.

Shattenkirk looks better in the first game of this series than he did against Chicago in seven games.

Thenpower play is atorcious. And despite the dumb pundits this is because the first unit has switched from favoring the point shot of Steen or Shattenkirk to giving the puck to Tarasenko. It should be the points and when the pkers cheat to the points then you dish it to a moving Tarasenko who then has a three on two on the lower half of the offensive zone. If you make him the man then you need to move the puck quickly because his side is over loaded. They saw this but forced the passes and no one seemed on the same page. The better PP unit has for a long time been the Fabbri, Stastny, Petro, Parayko unit. Because they are moving the puck, the players moving and if the points are covered they dish low and either Fabbri or Brouwer has a great chance from the slot area.

All simple stuff really. If I were the Blues I would hardly be worried. What Dallas is trying to is obvious. The best way to counteract is to posses the puck and support the puck. Triangles moving up and down the ice. dallas' manner will eventually be to over commit and that will leave large sawths of ice open fro two on ones.

Lehtonen now has rebound issues. He goes down is beatable high, but POP is always there. But you have to be in the correct position. Against a fast team you cannot have three guys going on a rush to the net and getting caught low. Dallas looks to want to cheat to the points. Their centers appeared to be above the goal line and not so much committing to the boards in the corners or below the goal line. That is fine. Because when the center tended to come down you have two guys winning a puck battle down low and a guy moving to the play which should open a guy up.


If I were the video coahc I would high light the routes being taken and the positioning. It seems pretty well set. That means you can expect players to come from certain angles and if you know that you will know where to expect the seams.

Hey hey, Leafs and St. Louis have how many cups since St. Louis joined the NHL? Always the brides-maid those Blues, no history to be proud of
- Conquest

You mean because we sent a pedophile to Toronto and youmopened your arms to him? Dougie loved baby sitters.

Hey hey, Leafs and St. Louis have how many cups since St. Louis joined the NHL? Always the brides-maid those Blues, no history to be proud of
- Conquest

A Leafs fan of all people trying to talk trash. How cute, go watch the lottery loser.

Agree with Blueman that the power play would best be driven by Steen or Shattenkirk on the point. I don't think there's any secret to a good power play -- it's always lots of player and puck movement, and a solid presence in front of the net. Blues did this well during the regular season.

A Leafs fan of all people trying to talk trash. How cute, go watch the lottery loser.
- Hull16

Yeah, I agree what the f_c! was that?


Leafs fans talking trash? 😂

Yeah, I agree what the f_c! was that?


Leafs fans talking trash? 😂
- Trust In Jarmo

DAMN! You know your team sucks when. columbus fan is putting you down!

Or should I say welcome back?

but jay bo was not terrible on the play it was lack of positioning by backchecker. jaybo is usuall good at containing and pushing to the outside but few times he was beaten by a step to the outside.

problem was elliott on both goals fails to control the rebounds. second one less so and squarely on the backchecker who let his man get to a rebound near the paint with a clear lane.

many scoring chances were do to elloitt leaving big juicey rebounds. this is three games. it leads to a lot of positiong snafus.

i think if allen was in net he shuts the stars out. only about five real good looks by he stars. the blues had only three and one of those i am being gracious about.
- BluemanGuruu

guru, jaybo was bad on both goals with multiple blow coverage assignments - 2 on the 1st and 1 on the 2nd. First goal is an open clear shot from the slot. He can't worry about where the rebound was going.

He was terrible with rebounds all game but the rebounds were not the issue on the two actual goals.